Word: france
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TIME'S first cover story on De Gaulle ran in the issue of Aug. 4, 1941, when he was the obscure, if fractious, leader-in-exile of Nazi-occupied France. Since then he has been the subject of nine other TIME cover stories and appeared last when he said non to devaluation of the franc. His successor could hardly match the general's flair for making news-or, for that matter, his disdain for the press. Reported Paris Bureau Chief Rademaekers: "One covered De Gaulle from a distance-like a moon shot. Journalists invited to visit the Elysee...
...Gaulle fell last week, the Franco-American freeze was thawing. The U.S. bombing halt in North Viet Nam, coupled with the opening of peace talks in Paris, eased one major cause of tension. De Gaulle's own position lost some of its majesty, both within and outside France, after the student riots a year ago and the autumn monetary crisis that almost forced devaluation of the franc. De Gaulle had courted the Soviet Union during a triumphal tour in 1966 and had implicitly excluded the U.S. from his often-stated vision of a Europe "united from the Atlantic...
Then there were pocketbook issues at stake. The French bourgeoisie, which has never altogether given up the notion that the only safe place for silver is in a sock, was angry and upset over France's rapid inflation and high taxes and the lingering uncertainty about the value of the franc. In the two weeks immediately preceding the election, small businessmen staged two strikes over the tax issue?the first in their history. Big businessmen, on the other hand, were concerned about shrinking profits and the "participation" that De Gaulle had promised their workers following the chaos of last spring...
...population ? had somehow struck at their government, either directly or by stopping work. The depth of discontent was clear to all, and it was only the fear of another convulsive round of riots that saved De Gaulle. In the process, he bargained away the wage curbs of the franc's stability, helping to precipitate the fiscal crisis that followed...
SINCE the monetary crisis of last fall, the main prop under the French franc has been the stubborn pride of Charles de Gaulle. Now, without his formidable non, talk of devaluation of the Continent's weakest currency has assumed a new tone of inevitability. Even the West Germans seem ready to assist in a broader change of currencies by increasing the value of the robust mark. The only real question in France is when and how much...