France: Premiere at the Elysee

During his eleven-year rule of France, Charles de Gaulle held a grand total of 18 press conferences, and the fact that the press was invited was almost incidental. Seated on a gilded tapestry chair in the Elysee Palace and flanked by his entire Cabinet, De Gaulle did not so much answer questions (often planted in advance) as deliver oracular pronouncements. Last week Georges Pompidou held his first session with the press since taking over as the general's successor, and the result was as different from De Gaulle's performances as an interview is from an audience.

France's new President strode informally into the room and told 160 newsmen that he wanted free and flexible contacts with the press, "my concern being that these conferences have as their aim informing you and learning something myself."

The conference did both, and was wide-ranging as well. In nearly two hours of direct questions and answers, newsmen asked about almost every major issue raised during the De Gaulle era, from Britain's entry into the Common Market to housing construction. Pompidou demonstrated an impressive familiarity with both policymaking and the practical levels of government.

He showed his scholar's mind by frequently replying with quotations (Marcus Aurelius on the quick passage of youth: "The inevitability of age is suspended above it"). He sprinkled his answers with wit (asked how he would assure the defense of the Mediterranean, Pompidou replied: "Ideally, by being everywhere"). He took pains to speak politely of other nations. Only one question—about possible plans to meet with De Gaulle—provoked a collision of the heavy presidential eyebrows. Such meetings, Pompidou said curtly, "should be at his initiative, and there is no need for them to be known to the public."

Not a Convent. De Gaulle has little to reproach his successor for so far, as Pompidou revealed few departures in substance from Gaullist policy. His only hint of change involved the total arms embargo against Israel instituted by De Gaulle early this year, which public opinion surveys revealed as highly unpopular among French voters. France might permit shipment of spare parts for Israel's French-made airplanes and weapons with "a feeble offensive capacity," Pompidou declared, depending on the "situation on the spot and the attitude of interested parties." Actually, France already permits some spare-part deliveries via third countries. But Pompidou gave no sign that he would release the 50 Mirage jets impounded two years ago on De Gaulle's orders.