Young Man for Old

France's new Premier brought a fresh face into the tired gallery of politicians who have governed France since World War 11. Elected on his 38th birthday, Felix Gaillard became the youngest man to rule France since Napoleon Bonaparte became First Consul in 1799. "Of course," said one of Gaillard's aides last week, "Bonaparte also was very gifted."

The son of a wealthy mining engineer and landowner, Gaillard was a precociously brilliant schoolboy, showed an early devotion to economics. After energetic wartime service in the resistance, he attended various international conferences as a financial expert, was elected to the Assembly (at 27) as a Radical Socialist in 1946, became a junior minister the next year. As Secretary of State to the Premier in 1953, he launched le plan Gaillard, a five-year program for atomic energy development. But he was little known to the French public until last summer, when as Finance Minister in the Bourges-Maunoury government, he courageously devalued the franc, forced spendthrift ministers to cut back their programs.

Election & Ejection. As he faced the Assembly to ask for investiture last week, the emotional impact of the occasion imparted a tremor to Gaillard's normally resonant voice. Then he steadied and briskly outlined his program. Main points: special powers for pursuing the war in Algeria (including a new appeal to the rebels for a ceasefire, a new discussion of the loi cadre), a 100 billion-franc slash in government expenditures, new taxes and price controls.

After a brief flurry of debate, the Assembly approved, 337 to 173, with only the Communists and the Poujadistes in opposition. With victory secured, Gaillard and Bourges climbed into a new Citroen and joined Mme. Gaillard at the Brasserie Lipp, a Left Bank restaurant which is the traditional spot for French Premiers to celebrate their election to or ejection from office. There, a birthday cake topped with a model of the Assembly building awaited him. As he prepared to cut into it, Assembly President Andre Le Troquer protested. "Don't cut up the Assembly! You've already had enough trouble pasting those pieces together."

Loans & Taxes. To reward the Socialists for their support, Gaillard reappointed Christian Pineau and Robert Lacoste to their posts as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Algeria. To his tennis pal and predecessor Bourges-Maunoury, Gaillard gave the powerful Ministry of Interior.*

Moving urgently to meet the ever-mounting crisis, Gaillard went into a huddle with his new Finance Minister, the M.R.P.'s Pierre Pflimlin, decided to borrow 250 billion francs from the Bank of France to pay civil servants and meet other obligations. Then Gaillard went to work on the Assembly with demands for special powers to enforce price controls by slapping heavy fines on price gougers, and to close the shops of merchants who refuse to comply. He also proposed an extra 100 billion francs in new taxes on such semi-luxury items as wine and autos.

Ironically, Gaillard was only doing in November what he had been unable or unwilling to do as Finance Minister in July. His policy on Algeria was only a watered-down version of the loi cadre proposal that brought Bourges-Maunoury's downfall. Typically, the French Deputies had tried everything else first, brought on a 36-day crisis in the attempt to avoid the inevitable. Admitted one Deputy: 'It was either Gaillard or nothing."

*Typical of the exhausted indifference which the prolonged crisis had brought was the appointment of Agriculture Minister Roland Boscary-Monsservin. Newspaper reporters, tired of waiting for Gaillard and the politicians to reach agreement on the post, decided Boscary-Monsservin would do, telephoned him at 11:35 p.m. and said Gaillard wanted to see him. Boscary-Monsservin scurried over to the Palais du Louvre, and Gaillard ended the argument by appointing him.

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