FRANCE: Brave Old Wheelhorse

Monday, Apr. 02, 1951

Digg
Facebook
Yahoo Buzz
Twitter
MORE
- Add to my:
- Blog this on:
  - TypePad
  - LiveJournal
  - Blogger
  - MySpace

(7 of 7)

Courage, Vision, Leadership? On the international level, France's great success is tentative agreement on the Schuman Plan—a bold, constructive step toward the economic unity of Europe. This achievement of French leadership, unfortunately, has no counterpart in the political mobilization of Europe against Communism. Auriol and his "third force" friends are thoroughly anti-Communist in heart and conscience. He is probably right about France, and certainly right about himself when he says "we would fight" against a Communist attack. But desperate courage at the eleventh hour will not win that battle. The time for courage and vision and leadership in Europe's defense against Communism is now. By accepting the "third force" label, Auriol & Co. automatically shut themselves off from a dynamic policy of struggle against Communism.

Auriol is like his country: brave, attractive, fundamentally sound; but addicted to expediency and sterile compromise. To the U.S. he can well represent the best of "third force" France. He cannot represent the France for which the U.S.—and Auriol—hopes. That France, decisive master of its own fate, decisive leader of Europe, has not yet emerged from the contradictions of the past.

^{*The man who defeated Clemenceau was Paul Deschanel,
chiefly
remembered for an unfortunate mishap. In 1920, on his way to unveil a
monument, Deschanel was wandering through a train in his pajamas. He
opened the wrong door, landed in a field near Corbeil. He walked
barefoot down the tracks to a signalman's hut, explained that he was
the President of the Republic. The kindly switchman put his barefooted
visitor to bed, called the gendarmes to say that he had a madman on his
hands. The gendarmes did nothing about it until hours later when they
heard that Deschanel was missing from his train which had finally
stopped 45 miles away. Deschanel was in a hospital while Paris
newspapers were running accounts, written from handouts, about his
presence at the unveiling ceremonies.}