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Lunch over, Kennedy and the general returned to the Salon Dore for nearly two hours of further talk. Principal topic: Laos and Southeast Asia. Both men agreed on the need for a certified ceasefire, expressed mutual hopes for a unified, neutralized Laos; but De Gaulle made it clear that no French troops would be committed to preserve Laotian freedom. At this conference, Kennedy shared equally in the conversation time, impressed De Gaulle with his sure knowledge of the subject matter (he used no notes), his occasional sharp turns of phrase. There was no glimmer of possible friction, and Kennedy told an aide later: "You know, we do seem to get along well."
Afterwards, deliberation once more gave way to ceremony. Kennedy received the Paris diplomatic corps, then De Gaulle escorted Kennedy on the day's second motorcade—to the Arc de Triomphe, where the President laid a wreath on the grave of the Unknown Soldier.
Social Niceties. That night De Gaulle was the host at a brilliant formal dinner at the Elysee Palace. By this time, the crusty old soldier had obviously warmed to his young guests. Referring to Kennedy as "mon ami," the French President in his toast paid tribute to Kennedy's "intelligence and courage," noted "the philosophy of the true statesman who selects his course and holds to it without letting himself be stopped, not deviating because of incidents, and without waiting for any formula or combination to alleviate the responsibility that is his duty and his honor." Looking much like the parents of the bride, the De Gaulles stood beside the Kennedys on a reception line as 1,000 pillars of Parisian society elbowed each other for a chance to shake hands.
Next day, Kennedy felt chipper enough to indulge in a campaign practice that few American politicians abroad seem able to resist: shaking hands with the natives. Twice during his tours Kennedy darted away from his police escort to mingle with startled Parisians, giving them his smiling, low-keyed greeting: "How are you? Good to see you." But there was not much time for that sort of thing: his tightly scheduled day was jammed with both cerebration and ceremony.
If an exchange of views, rather than reconciliation of differences, was what Kennedy came to Paris for, his second day there was a considerable success. At a morning session with De Gaulle, President Kennedy heard the French leader explain that it was up to Britain whether or not it joins the Common Market (although European observers suspect that De Gaulle is deep-down opposed to British membership). In his turn, Kennedy explained the principle—financial help for countries that will instigate social reforms—of his ambitious Alianza para el Progreso in Latin America (TIME, Feb. 24). De Gaulle suggested that a Common Market observer would attend the Alianza's first conference in Punta del Este, Uruguay, next month. When Kennedy stressed the need for France and other NATO allies to join in multilateral assistance pacts, De Gaulle cited the aid, amounting to nearly a billion a year, that France is giving its former colonies.