On with the Dance

After the Foreign Ministers' deadlock on Trieste, Viacheslav Molotov gave a party for 600 at the palatial Soviet Embassy with a very lush, very Russian buffet. After the deadlock on the Italian colonies, Ernest Bevin did the honors for 800 at the even more palatial British Embassy, with a much more austere buffet. Cinderella-like, Bidault, Byrnes and Molotov left on the stroke of midnight; no sooner had they gone than Bevin cracked his party's glaze of tension by foxtrotting with Lady Diana Duff Cooper.

All week dancing and deadlocks alternated. The turning point, perhaps of the whole Conference, came in a small, appropriately smoke-filled Second Empire room of Paris' Luxembourg Palace. Agreement was as far away as ever. Then Jimmy Byrnes, with a shrewd Irish glance at the silent gathering, shrewdly moved that the points of disagreement be summarized and submitted to a 21-power peace conference on June 15, with an acknowledgment that the Big Four had failed to agree. He sat back, winked at Arthur Vandenberg, awaited reactions. For five long minutes--"it seemed like 30," said one witness--nobody spoke. Then Bidault said quietly that this seemed like a good idea. Bevin nodded thoughtfully.* Molotov whispered into the ear of Interpreter Vladimir Pavlov, who announced that Russia would like to think it over.

That evening Byrnes entertained at the small, stolid U.S. Embassy. A mere 300 guests crowded in. Molotov and Byrnes went into the garden for a breath of air and a bit of diplomatic shop talk. "The Soviets," said Byrnes with a sweeping gesture, "have a much better building. The British have a better building. [We] have to get along with this." Molotov nodded in sympathy.

"In our country," Byrnes continued, "the State Department gets the least funds of any government. We send these boys out into the world and we can't pay them decent salaries. I am introducing a bill in Congress now to improve that situation." Politely Molotov protested that it was a very fine building. "But," he added, "I understand. Such things are difficult."

Two days later the Conference issues became less difficult. Russia gave up her claim to sole trusteeship for Tripolitania; she yielded a little ground on Italian reparations.

Despite such disputes, the Ministers ended the week more cheerfully than they began--at a ball with handsome, young King Sianouk of Cambodia, while Parisians danced in the streets outside. Molotov's new mildness might be intended to help Europe's Communists after their setback in the French elections. But whatever the reason, the Four had danced through so many little difficulties in a week that they could once more tackle a really tough number: Trieste.

* Bevin disposed of two other painful matters with masterly dispatch. Since two teeth hurt him, he simply had them out.

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