For the 23rd time since World War II, French politicians sweated through the ceremonial dance of trying to form a government. President René Coty first offered the premiership to René Pleven, then to Antoine Pinay. Both refused. Pleven had been Defense Minister during Dienbienphu, feared ugly comparisons with the Algerian war. Parliamentary arithmetic ruled out any candidate without Socialist support, something Right-Winger Pinay could not get. Finally, the President summoned tall, white-haired Pierre Pflimlin, 50, to his oak-paneled office at the Elysee Palace for a two-hour talk, then walked him to the...
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