Preparations for a Journey

In the Elysee Palace in Paris, President of the Republic Vincent Auriol drummed his fingers on the desk at which Napoleon I signed his abdication after Waterloo. Intent on a journey, Vincent Auriol was trying to remember if everything, every last detail, had been taken care of. This week he (with his wife Michele) sails on the Ile de France, the first French President to visit the U.S.

The clothes had been taken care of. Somehow, into two trunks and five suitcases the Auriols had managed to cram two full-dress suits, 30 dresses, two morning coats, a dinner jacket, three business suits (blue and dark grey) and some of those fiendish French shirts that button up the back. Although both of the Auriols are homebodies, they like elegance at official dinners. Three weeks ago crates of choice wine, silver and Sevres china were shipped off to the French embassy in Washington for the dinners which the Auriols will give there.

On March 30, after a white-tie dinner for the Trumans and a few others, M. Auriol will give a reception to which he, as an old parliamentarian himself, plans to invite every member of the Senate and the House. To handle the overflow, the embassy is putting up a large green and white tent, with a wooden floor.

The unspoken purpose of M. Auriol's visit is to symbolize and exploit the recent upsurge of understanding between France and the U.S. The French President will have some good news to report, including: 1) the Assembly seems close to a single-ballot, majority-vote, solution for France's vexing electoral-reform problem, which will probably leave the Communists out in the cold; 2) the Schuman plan for Western Europe's coal & steel has been initialed by all parties concerned (see below).

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