Critical Choice

It was the longest Cabinet meeting in the nine years of the Fourth Republic. For 8 1/2 hours Premier Mendes-France listened to the protests of his political colleagues, readvanced his argument, and finally got his way: the appointment of Gaullist Jacques Soustelle, 43, as governor general of Algeria. When they heard the news, opposition Deputies cried "`a la soupe!" (i.e., gravy). In his own Radical Party, Mendes had to face severe criticism. Said ex-Premier Rene Mayer: "This action may gain the Prime Minister votes from some other quarters, but it may well cost him an equal number from the ranks of his own comrades." Replied Mendes acidly: "I did not look up M. Soustelle's radical pedigree. I sought the man who could best serve France."

The Algiers post outranks most Cabinet portfolios in prestige and almost everything else in priority. Soustelle's appointment promises a firm hand at a critical moment in France's relations with North Africa. A cold, intelligent member of a French Calvinist family, Soustelle entered the famed Ecole Normale Superieure at 17, graduated at 20. An anthropologist and married to an anthropologist, he voyaged to Mexico and South America, wrote a series of outstanding books on the Inca and Aztec cultures. Politically on the left, he joined De Gaulle in London shortly after the fall of France. Later, having proved himself a ruthless and stubborn administrator, he was put in charge of the Free French secret service and counter-espionage in Algiers. His work uncovering illegal Communist Party activities just after the liberation of France earned him the enduring enmity of French Reds. But he is also no friend of the U.S.: during his anthropological work he became convinced that south of the Rio Grande the U.S. is a nasty old imperialist. His brilliant, biting speeches against German rearmament helped kill EDC, and he has attacked Mendes' own Paris Accords.

At a time when many Frenchmen feel that Arab demands in North Africa are getting out of hand, Soustelle's appointment will strengthen Mendes' position in the forthcoming Assembly debate. With the full support of his own party and the votes of Soustelle's Gaullist friends, he should carry the Assembly. Said Mendes: "I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic...We will go as far as we can."

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