The Side Effects

WESTERN EUROPE

In every capital Dwight Eisenhower touched on his European tour, his appearance had its side effects.

In Bonn, Ike's 23-hour stay was a political windfall for canny old Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and his Christian Democratic Party. German Socialists dourly noted the President's airport remark that "in my country the name Adenauer has come to symbolize the determination of the German people to remain strong and free," complained that it was interference in German politics. The pollsters predicted that Adenauer's electoral strength would soar; it was bitter medicine for der Alte's enemies, who predicted his political downfall three months ago during the tussle with Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard.

The Overgenial Host. In London, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan also reaped a political fortune from Ike's visit, and in Britain, where a general election is looming, the fact was particularly pertinent. Playing the genial host far more actively than was strictly necessary, wily Harold capitalized on his opportunity to the utmost. Although the Queen's representative, the Earl of Gosford. was on hand as a symbol of the head of state to greet Eisenhower at the airport, it was the Prime Minister who suavely climbed into the limousine to share Ike's first triumphal tour of London. And on television with his famous guest, Macmillan took advantage of the fact that Ike could do little other than nod politely as the Prime Minister dropped debonair references to his own visit with Khrushchev, British distaste for U.S. tariffs on woolen goods and a clutch of other matters likely to convince British voters that good old Harold was the man to support. In the Evening Standard next day, Randolph Churchill sourly commented: "It was a fascinating experience last night to see the Prime Minister on TV with his campaign manager . . ."

Though Labor Party leaders doughtily tried to shrug it off, most British pundits agreed that Ike's visit had carried Macmillan to a new crest of popularity, and Macmillan himself pointedly went into a huddle with Tory Party leaders to discuss an early election. At week's end dates as early as Oct. 8 were being widely rumored in London.

Silence on the Right. Most important side effects of all came in Paris. On the crucial question of Algeria, which occupied more than one-third of Ike's talks with De Gaulle, the French President gave his outline of a new plan to settle the rebellion. Leaks had it that De Gaulle would propose elections for a new Algerian assembly and executive with whom negotiations on Algeria's political future would be conducted. The plan would not require a rebel cease-fire as a precondition to a settlement, leaving this open in the hope that public opinion in Algeria would by itself force the rebels to stop fighting.

Though De Gaulle did not use the phrase "self-determination," that seemed clearly his meaning. Such a development would be anathema to French rightists who have loudly insisted on complete "integration" of Algeria into France and who, so far, have been able to veto any more liberal solution to the rebellion. But last week, with all Paris caught up in enthusiasm for Ike and convinced--overoptimistically--that Ike had promised U.S. support to De Gaulle's new plan, rightist outcries were uncharacteristically restrained.

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