CONGO: Freedom at Last

Things were a little awkward from the very start, as young King Baudouin arrived in the Congo to celebrate and declare its independence. On the way into Leopoldville from the airport, an exuberant nationalist pressed close to his open limousine, grabbed the King's sword from beside him, and flourished it above his head before the police could move in and pommel him away. Later, as the King entered the new parliamentary chamber, where Ghanaians in togas mingled with bemedaled Western ambassadors, the Belgians shouted, "Vive le Roi!" The Congolese Assemblymen, preferring to cheer the new nation's first President,...