“Statesmanship,” as opposed to mere politics, was the main interest of the young de Gaulle, son of a history professor at the Institut Catholique. But it hardly needs to be said that bad statesmanship is worse than politics. Even in the more distant past, de Gaulle’s statesmanship was not always good although his decisions, calculated to make history, were frequently misunderstood and unappreciated among the French people generally. This is why so many high civil servants in Paris (starting with the Quai d’Orsay) are so extremely friendly toward Western emissaries and journalists. Many of them shudder at the thought of where his latest tour de force may lead France. Try visualizing the reaction at the Quai at recent news reports out of Montreal.
De Gaulle’s plan for Europe and the rest of the world moves in what might be called concentric circles. There is to be a Greater Europe, more or less under French leadership, with the Germans as junior partners. The Paris-Bonn alliance is de Gaulle’s idée fixe, the Germans being the only people for whom he has something like affection and respect. Greater Europe, then, consists of the countries west of the Soviet border and includes the Maghreb—Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia. It could also extend in the direction of Latin America, French-speaking West Africa, perhaps the Near East and toward a USSR that was under heavy Chinese pressure. (French recognition of Red China was designed to increase this pressure. An expansionist Communist China could result in the Gaullist dream of a Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals.)
Comments