FRANCE: De Gaulle to Power

As the hour hand of the clock high on the wall of the National Assembly crept past 3, the hour of final reckoning arrived for the Fourth Republic. In hushed silence the Deputies watched General Charles de Gaulle in a single-breasted grey suit stride to the podium, heard him proclaim in less than seven minutes the terms on which he had accepted the summons to power.

Then, by the unimpressive vote of 329 to 224, De Gaulle got his way. Less than 18 years after the defeated Third Republic voted itself out of...