The Watershed

As the moment neared, Frenchmen everywhere were tense with anticipation. In Algiers, settlers gathered around TV sets at home or sipped anisette at bars and cafes, waiting for the broadcast. From five minutes to 8 onward, the television cameras focused on a clock with a large second hand counting off the time down to 8 sharp. Then, at last, an announcer intoned, "16th September, 1959. Elysee Palace. General de Gaulle, President of the Republic and of the Community, addresses the nation."

On glowing screens in France and Algeria appeared tall, grave Charles de Gaulle, seated at his desk, ready to disclose to France and the world his plan to end the savage, five-year-old Algerian war. His words, ringing with purpose, marked a watershed in French history: "I deem it necessary that recourse to self-determination be here and now proclaimed."

Fateful Choices. No other French leader had ever dared to offer the 9,000,000 Algerians what Charles de Gaulle was holding forth to them: a free choice to decide their own future political status, even to secede peacefully from France if that was what they wanted. Algerians, said De Gaulle, could opt for 1) independence, 2) complete political and economic integration with France, or 3) home rule under France's wing (see box).

It was clear that De Gaulle detested the first alternative, considered the second impractical. His own preference, he made plain, was the third alternative--self-government of a type similar to that now operating in the twelve nations of France's new African Community. But even this would not come until the fighting was over: Algerians, proclaimed De Gaulle, would make their decision in elections to be held "at the latest four years after the actual restoration of peace; that is to say, once a situation has been established in which not more than 200 people a year lose their lives, either in ambushes or isolated attacks." (The Algerian war's 1959 toll so far according to French figures: 20,000 dead in battle, 1,613 killed by terrorists.)

The Vanishing Specter. When De Gaulle had finished, France was swept by a vast wave of relief that finally someone had pointed the way to an end of the bloody rebellion that has cost France $5 billion, kept 500,000 young Frenchmen under arms in Algeria and badly strained the fabric of NATO. The Communist and fascist fringes hurled insults at the President, but the great French middle, both liberal and conservative, overwhelmingly supported and applauded the bold initiative. And the dread specter of right-wing revolt all but vanished even in Algeria itself, where diehard French ultras had warned, on the eve of De Gaulle's statement, that "hundreds of thousands of Europeans and Moslems" would "take to the maquis" if self-determination was offered to Algeria.

The police were ready, and so was the army, which some extremists had hoped would fight the new plan. "The army is in league with no political party," announced a military spokesman. "It is 100% behind its leader, General de Gaulle." As De Gaulle spoke, heavy guards surrounded public buildings, and the troops were kept in their barracks ready for trouble. None came, except for the man who drove futilely along Algiers' main street tooting three short and two long blasts on his horn, the code for ALGERIE FRAN-C,AISE, war cry of the ultras.

The Seventh Playback. How soon, perhaps even whether, De Gaulle's proposals could be realized depended in large measure on the leaders of Algeria's rebel F.L.N. Gathered in Tunis, the ministers of the F.L.N.'s shadow government tape-recorded the speech, played it back seven times, then debated its terms most of the night. At first, they dismissed the proposals as "negative"; they had noted 1) De Gaulle's contemptuous refusal to negotiate with them, and 2) his implied warning that if Algerians opt for secession, their country might be partitioned to assure France continued control of the oil-rich Sahara and to protect the rights of French Algerians and Moslems still loyal to France.

But Tunisia's President Habib Bourguiba stepped in to press for cooperation. He argued that F.L.N.'s best chance of surviving as a major force would be through a display of moderation, urged that F.L.N. accept the gamble, agree to dissolve its provisional government and return to Algeria to reorganize as a legitimate political party.

F.L.N. President Ferhat Abbas was interested, but other rebel chieftains argued that the French could not be trusted to make good on De Gaulle's promises. Bourguiba's reply: they could, given guarantees that Algeria's election would be supervised by the U.N., that De Gaulle would meet F.L.N. leaders to discuss a ceasefire, and that France would release imprisoned rebels and promise no reprisals once a cease-fire becomes effective.

The Beginning of Hope. While the rebels debated, most of the rest of the world cheered. From Madagascar, southernmost state in the French African Community, Premier Philibert Tsiranana declared: "There is no longer any reason for the war to go on in Algeria." In London a Foreign Office expert glowed: "To anyone who has been involved with the Algerian problem, this is almost miraculous."

Whether all this enthusiasm would be enough to win the day for France in the forthcoming U.N. debate on Algeria, no one yet knew. Most Arab nations echoed Cairo radio's snarl: "We don't have four years to spare." And even the U.S. State Department was unwilling to commit itself flatly to support France in the U.N. until the French government offered fur ther information on how it proposed to achieve the degree of peace in Algeria that De Gaulle has specified.

But, for all that, De Gaulle's imaginative proposals for the first time offered the world real reason to hope that the seemingly interminable struggle, which a year ago drove France itself to the verge of civil war, might be almost over. In Washington, Dwight Eisenhower spoke for millions in the Western world when he declared: "I am greatly encouraged by General de Gaulle's courageous and statesmanlike declaration . . . It is a plan that I think is worthy of General de Gaulle's efforts."

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