Pompidou Postscripts

From over the Atlantic last week, as Georges Pompidou winged home to Paris following an eight-day U.S. visit, the President of France sent a last adieu to Host Richard Nixon. His trip and their consultations, said Pompidou, had helped "the slow and difficult construction of man's happiness." Considering the fact that the state visit had nearly been reduced to a shambles, Pompidou's message seemed as extravagant as bombe glacee for dessert after a dinner of horsemeat sausage. Only adroit maneuvering by Nixon saved the tour from an embarrassing finale. Long after the plane disappeared over the horizon, Pompidou's hosts were still arguing the effectiveness of his visit and the questions it underscored about the shaping of U.S. foreign policy (see box, opposite).

Stain on America. In the face of street demonstrations protesting his anti-Israeli policy, Pompidou's patience held up well enough as long as the generally orderly protesters were kept at a distance. But in Chicago, his next to last stop, Pompidou felt that things had got out of hand. Mayor Richard Daley greeted the city's distinguished guest at the airport but did not appear at a Palmer House dinner given by Chicago's Council on Foreign Relations and Alliance Franchise. His Honor claimed "family commitments." Daley's ungentle police were lenient with the well-dressed, middle-class Jewish pickets who gathered to protest. When the Pompidou party left the Palmer House dinner, some demonstrators were able to confront it with shouts and signs. One placard showed Pompidou kissing an Arab derriere-Claude Pompidou insisted that she had been spat upon.

U.S. Presidents are accustomed to crowd crudeness but French Presidents are not. Plainly overreacting, Pompidou called the incident "a blatant violation of all security" and "a stain on America's forehead." The police, he said, were "accomplices of the demonstrators." To a continental mind, no matter how well-informed about U.S. affairs, conspiracy seems the usual explanation for almost anything; Pompidou probably could not believe that the Chicago police were not in league with the demonstrators. Daley insisted that there was nothing for him--or the demonstrators --to apologize for.

Next, Pompidou threatened to skip his final stop in New York and fly directly home to France. New York, the French party reasoned, not only has the largest Jewish population of any city in the world--2,400,000--but the stage was set for further hostile dem onstrations by the unconscionable absences of both Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Mayor John Lindsay. Rockefeller is running for re-election this year and needs the Jewish vote. Lindsay won re-election last year with substantial Jewish support. Both truckled to Jewish enmity for Pompidou by finding commitments that kept them from meeting Pompidou or attending a dinner honoring him at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Only a telephoned apology from Nixon persuaded Pompidou to continue his trip. Even so, he limited his movements outside the Waldorf to a United Nations luncheon, and Claude Pompidou refused to leave the hotel.

Bitterness Diluted. To restore cordiality completely, Nixon made a surprise trip to New York for the Waldorf dinner. Spiro Agnew had been scheduled to Vive Pompidou!, but Nixon took over that duty when the time came for toasts. His gesture pleased the French and somewhat diluted the bitterness of Chicago. It was, said Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann, "of exceptional importance." So, last week, was Nixon's nomination of Arthur K. Watson, 50, to replace Sargent Shriver as Ambassador to France. Watson, chairman of IBM World Trade Corp., speaks fluent French and has long been an advocate of closer European-American relations.

Ironically, Pompidou's pique may well redound to his credit at home. Many Frenchmen are sympathetic to Israel and they oppose their government's freeze on arms sales to Israel while 108 Mirage jets are being sold to Libya. Yet they naturally resent discourtesy to a President of France, and the insults of American Jews could have the effect of strengthening Pompidou's position.

Cogent Arguments. The week's events also affected U.S. affairs. Nixon's eagerness to soothe Pompidou offended sympathizers of Israel. On the other hand, Nixon has not enjoyed much Jewish political support, and would seem to have little to lose from that quarter. By placating the nation's guest, he was also rebuking Rockefeller and Lindsay and slapping the demonstrators' wrists.

Nixon is still cogitating a request from Israel for 24 additional Phantom jets and 80 Skyhawks. A decision promised for last week was not forthcoming and may be delayed further by the fuss over Pompidou. The President does not want to be put into the position of reacting to foreign-policy recommendations under pressure.

Nixon has heard cogent arguments for and against providing the Phantoms and Skyhawks. Militarily the planes are necessary to replace old equipment in Israel's air force; they would also make up for the 50 Mirages that Charles de Gaulle first sold to Israel and then refused to deliver, as well as for planes shot down since the 1967 war.

Repercussions. The rebuttal is that Israel, for the moment at least, has air superiority in the Middle East because of its pilots' skill. Nor is this likely to be affected by Libya's purchase of the Mirages. American diplomats in Arab na tions are arguing that to sell Israel more arms now would end what marginal influence Washington retains in Arab capitals. Still, Nixon cannot let the Arabs feel that he is abandoning Israel.

The outlook, therefore, is for a compromise that will please no one. The President is expected soon to pledge in general terms that the U.S. will maintain Israel's war machine at a degree sufficient to assure it security. At the same time, he may announce limited sales of planes to Israel. The extent of the purchases and the timing of the deliveries, however, may well be kept quiet. Whatever the details, such a decision will cause obvious repercussions. The Soviets are already tuning up an anti-Israel campaign that sounds like justification for more arms shipments to the Arabs. Last week, at a televised press conference in Moscow, 54 prominent Russian Jews denounced "Zionist racism." The Arabs will be even more indignant. Whatever Nixon decides, the State Department will provide advance warning to U.S. embassies in Arab nations in order to give them time to put up sandbags.

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