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His Own and France. Before Nixon even arrived in France, Paris-Presse was on the streets with the originally planned text of his effusive message of greeting to De Gaulle. In huge type, the paper printed this excerpt: "Few leaders of the modern world think so broadly as you, Mr. President. Few have so well understood the great historical sweeps of the past. Few have thought so clearly about the future. Few have so considered the interplay of forces that shape events, the motivations of men and nations." It was an extraordinary paean to the Frenchman who has so stubbornly obstructed every European and American effort toward political, economic and military solidarity—and one that might have caused deep offense to many of the other statesmen to whom Nixon had been talking all week.
By the time he uttered them, Nixon's words had been toned down—though they were still markedly deferential. The sentences released in advance were omitted. Instead, Nixon said: "I am delighted to have the opportunity to know your views and to hear your opinions not only concerning the relations between our two countries but even more so about the great problems which divide the world." He said that he shared "the feeling expressed by Benjamin Franklin many years ago when he said: 'Every man has two countries, France and his own.' Vive la France!" De Gaulle was almost as expansive. "In the past 200 years, during which everything has happened, nothing has ever been able to make our country cease to feel the friend of yours," he insisted. "Vive les États Unis d'Amerique!"
Nixon's conversations with De Gaulle, at the Elysée Palace and at Louis XIV's Grand Trianon in Versailles, went as smoothly as either nation could expect. One indication that the venerable general was in a benign mood came during the glittering dinner party at the Elysée. Impressed that De Gaulle always speaks without notes, Nixon Speechwriter Bill Safire asked the French President how he did it. "I write it out in longhand and then memorize it," De Gaulle replied. "I tear the page out and throw it away and it is in my mind." Pointing to Nixon, De Gaulle asked Safire: "What about him?" Safire answered: "It is statesmen like you who will put us speechwriters out of business." De Gaulle laughed heartily.
Style and Substance. Nixon expected no sudden breakthroughs from his voyage of exploration. The benefits of his European odyssey are more subtle than that. His patent concern for European views reflects a quieter, more thoughtful American role in the world. It could considerably improve the tone of international dialogue, injecting a new calm and reasonableness that might produce substantive achievement in lessened tensions and new understanding. On the evidence of his trip, the President has laid a sound foundation for the "new era of negotiation" he often speaks of. Especially, he has eased European edginess over U.S.-Soviet conversations, reassuring the alliance partners that their interests will be heeded and respected.