Word: gaillard
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Ominous Whispers. It was a measure of the psychotic state of French politics that where Bourguiba's tough talk had provoked Frenchmen to fury, his proffered olive branch very nearly toppled the government of Premier Felix Gaillard. Trouble was that along with the olive branch came news that Bourguiba would still not agree to France's scheme for "neutral control'' of the border between Tunisia and revolt-torn Algeria, still insisted that France publicly concede that "in principle" Tunisia has sovereignty over Bizerte. Stirred to their chauvinistic depths. France's right-wing Independents, a vital...
Shaken by the previous week's humiliating police riot (TIME, March 24), harried young Felix Gaillard hastily ordered 12,000 helmeted gendarmes flown into Paris from Algeria, Germany and the provinces. To a stonily unresponsive Assembly, Premier Gaillard declared: "It is said that the republican regime has been shaken to its foundation. This is not true. The Republic is much more firmly rooted in the hearts of Frenchmen than many pretend to believe. The only danger which threatens the Republic is the disunity of the republicans themselves and particularly of the republican majority of this Assembly which should permit...
...Gaillard got his vote of confidence (282 to 196), but with it came a blunt threat from right-wing ex-Premier Andre Marie: "We give you our confidence, but if the government makes any unacceptable concessions to Tunisia through the Good Offices mission, our confidence would be withdrawn...
Holiday Freedom. Only 24 hours after the confidence vote, the Independents were at Gaillard's throat again. "Tell us exactly what you have agreed to on Tunisia, or we will withdraw our ministers," they demanded. Independent Leader Antoine Pinay came flying back to Paris from a meeting of the European Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg to quell his cohorts. But the trump card was played by Gaillard himself. Said he: "If any part of my majority leaves my side, I will resign...
...like other plausible-sounding French proposals. Gaillard's pact met many problems but not the crucial one, the status of Algeria. Tunisia and Morocco need help to keep their unbalanced economies viable, and in the past have shown willingness to accept that aid from France. But because of their citizens' sympathy for the Algerian rebels, Tunisia and Morocco have been moving away from, not toward, France. It was hard to see how that trend could be reversed by the offer of a pact which would, in effect, force both governments to ratify permanent French control of Algeria. Speaking...