Foreign News: Show of Doubt

Like a camel driver urging his beast to get up off its knees. French Premier Pierre Mendès-France cajoled and prodded the French National Assembly towards the decision it had balked at for years. Now both France's allies and France's enemies demanded that the issue of German rearmament be met, and Mendès promised that France would declare itself.

The agile young Premier's tenacity at the London Conference had won substantial concessions from the Germans and a history-making commitment from Britain. Paris headlines called the achievement a "decisive step" and "unmitigated success." But the politicians awaited their Premier's return with jeers and indifference....

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