Quick Trip

Stout, amiable Joseph Pholien, a lawyer who helped found Belgium's postwar Social Christian Party, unexpectedly became Belgium's Premier last October, after the royal abdication crisis had forced Premier Jean Duvieusart to resign. Pholien grew very fond of his new office. He was irritated, however, by the globetrotting reminiscences of Foreign Minister Paul Van Zeeland, ex-Premier Paul-Henri Spaak, and other colleagues.

Last month 66-year-old Premier Pholien decided to make his first visit to the U.S. He and Madame Pholien quietly paid their own fares on a scheduled Sabena Airline flight to New York. After some hurried sightseeing in Manhattan, the Pholiens, accompanied by State Department and Belgian officials, left Washington last week for a look at the country. They inspected a General Motors truck plant in Detroit and a chemical factory in Muscle Shoals, Ala., rode in a helicopter at Wright Field. Back in Washington the Premier had lunch at Blair House with Dean Acheson and Harry Truman.

This week, pleased and impressed by his quick trip, Joseph Pholien was headed for home.

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