Word: oui
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...ratified by the French Parliament. But Pompidou had political ends in mind. One was to demonstrate by popular vote his shift away from De Gaulle's old and increasingly unpopular anti-British foreign policy. Another was to increase Pompidou's own luster. To whip up a large oui vote, he made his first provincial tour as President, but crowds on a 30-town tour of Lorraine were neither large nor passionate-in part, perhaps, because Pompidou's speech-making was mediocre...
...early '30s he became a very highly paid American movie idol. Even Greta Garbo, for a fleeting moment, once felt that it might be nice to be with him. "Do you know how to swim, Monsieur Chevalier?" Greta asked at a dinner party in Hollywood. "Mais oui," replied Chevalier hesitantly. "Then let's go for a dip in the ocean right now," said the Swedish actress. "But it's midnight," objected the Frenchman. "Le Pacifique est glacial." Garbo never talked to Chevalier again...
...wearily took the rostrum to make some last procedural motions, he was hissed and booed. "There was an ugly mood in there," he said. "It was a gladiatorial atmosphere, an emotional release at seeing the U.S. get kicked around." When the Albanian resolution came up, shouts of "Si!" and "Oui!" rose as one delegate after another flipped a switch and lighted up the green YES light next to his country's name on the Assembly tote board. Eleven of Washington's 14 NATO partners either sided with the Albanian resolution or abstained. The vote: 73 for and only 35 against...
...facility at digesting official dossiers became legendary and led to his own decision-making shorthand style. "Vu" meant seen but waiting for better arguments. "Soit" meant so be it, but not the best solution. "Oui" meant O.K., but he still had reservations. Only the best dossiers got a "D'accord," meaning that the matter was settled. Pompidou began to enjoy politics with a gusto, and it showed even in his complaints. "I am bombarded with daily problems," he said one day. "I handle dossiers of a burning actuality. Everything is urgent at Matignon [the Premier's office]. But when...
...shopkeepers and professional men-said they would either vote no or cast a blank ballot. But Frenchmen have a way of confounding opinion seekers. Pierre Renaud, Briare's pharmacist-tobacconist, perhaps expressed it best. "The French are a funny people. They always complain a lot but usually vote oui." In France, it is the mind that does the talking but the heart that does the voting...