Word: mend
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...Mendès' view might be put in the French saying, Reculer pour mieux sauter-take a step backward so as to jump better. He argues that by trying to be strong everywhere, France is strong nowhere, that strength cannot be achieved anywhere with an overburdened or propped-up economy. Says a British friend: "He does not argue that France should stand alone, but that France should stand erect...
...Gambler. Almost unknown to the general public a year ago, Mendès-France has become a living symbol of change, in a country that longs for change. Previous Premiers had one goal that was more important than all others: to stay in office. A "successful" Premier was the one who managed to stay longest, and however patriotic he might be, he had to shape all his actions towards continuity in office. Generally, this meant that it was safer to do nothing. Thus, a Premier formed his majority first by telling the Catholic M.R.P. that he was for EDC, then...
...Mendès did not say on what terms he would get peace, or what formula he would achieve for German rearmament. He simply said he would solve these two problems or get out. To a weary and politically conscious people, the appeal of this gamble was unique and overwhelming...
...eight months, Mendès worked in the underground, adopting a pipe and a mustache as a disguise, then made his way to London to join De Gaulle's Free French. He immediately applied to fly again, was trained as a navigator in the Free French bomber group. "He turned all colors before going on missions, but he always went and he volunteered when he could," says a friend. Mendès fretted about bombing France, finally concluded that if he did not do it, others would, and perhaps not aim so carefully...
...London, Mendès stayed coldly aloof from those fellow exiles who jostled and intrigued for Cabinet positions in De Gaulle's'phantom government. "They are not bad men," he confided to a friend, "but they scurry around. They scurry so much they forget France...