The most effective way for a French Premier to stay in office is to avoid hard decisions and, if possible, even forthright expressions of opinion. Under Henri Queuille, the colorless compromiser, this technique made a name for itself: L'im-mobilisme. Queuille hung on as Premier for 388 days—a record for postwar France. Last week France's postwar Premier, Joseph Laniel, was hot on Queuille's trail. By an astute and unflagging practice of immobilisme, plus luck, Laniel passed the second-best (290-day) mark, set by Antoine Pinay, his arch rival in the Independent Party. If Laniel...
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