Word: gaullists
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...Strasbourg. De Gaulle derided the East-West test ban treaty with the gibe: "Numerous states have agreed, and for good reason: they lack the means to carry out the tests. It's a little bit like asking someone not to swim across the Channel." As for criticisms that Gaullist France has become increas ingly isolated in Western councils, De Gaulle proclaimed: "I can tell you with full knowledge of the facts that never has France been more closely supported or more sought after than today...
...rest of the world, Dutch politics seems as sane and stolid as a Rembrandt burgher - and most of the time it is. Every few years, however, The Netherlands is gripped by a Cabinet crisis that leaves the country rudderless for even longer than customary in Italy or pre-Gaullist France. In 1956 the governmental vacuum lasted for 122 days, while the old Cabinet carried on as caretaker. By last week, when Queen Juliana flew back from an Italian vacation to swear in new Prime Minister Victor Marijnen, the government had taken Dutch leave for 70 days...
...High Mass, Sung. The most telling experience for Gaullists is to be in De Gaulle's presence, which is surrounded by an inflexible liturgy. Guardian of the "Christian morality and social propriety" of the ritual is Mme. de Gaulle." "She checks the necklines of the ministers' wives," says Author Viansson-Ponté, "and has at various times, it is said, succeeded in keeping out of the government people suspected of marital infidelity." At luncheon at De Gaulle's country home in Colombey-les-deux-Eglises, "Mme. de Gaulle asks about the road, talks about the weather...
Viansson-Ponté estimates that only 1,500 Frenchmen qualify as real Gaullists, has selected 116 of these for inclusion in his directory. Even in apostasy, he says, the Gaullist "link is indestructible. Excluded, exiled, in rebellion, Jacques Soustelle remains a member of the circle." But ironically, such ranking spokesmen for present-day Gaullist policy as Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville and Information Minister Alain Peyrefitte are excluded for lacking the proper credentials...
Crossing the Desert. Viansson-Ponté gives each Gaullist a Guide Michelin sort of rating denoting past services to Gaullism and present standing in relation to the general. A Cross of Lorraine indicates Free France, a submachine gun the Resistance, and a star the Compagnon de la Liberation, the elite order of Free France and Resistance fighters. A small outhouse (cabinet in French) means membership in De Gaulle's personal office staff, a mask means espionage work during World War II. A motorcyclist symbolizes trips to Colombey to see the general, and a hand grenade membership in the R.P.F...