Stout, amiable Joseph Pholien, a lawyer who helped found Belgium's postwar Social Christian Party, unexpectedly became Belgium's Premier last October, after the royal abdication crisis had forced Premier Jean Duvieusart to resign. Pholien grew very fond of his new office. He was irritated, however, by the globetrotting reminiscences of Foreign Minister Paul Van Zeeland, ex-Premier Paul-Henri Spaak, and other colleagues.
Last month 66-year-old Premier Pholien decided to make his first visit to the U.S. He and Madame Pholien quietly paid their own fares on a scheduled Sabena Airline flight to New York....