Fleeting Hope?

In its annual convention at Strasbourg last week, France's Catholic, middle-of-the-road M.R.P. chose a new president. He was Georges Bidault, one of the party's founders and France's former Foreign Minister, who had won out over Pierre Henri Teitgen, gaunt ex-Minister of Justice, his rival for the party presidency. Bidault's election raised a big question: would he lead his party rightward from its present "Third Force" position into an alliance with Charles de Gaulle?

M.R.P. strength has been declining; a deal with the Gaullists might prove to be M.R.P.'s only means of surviving the next elections (to be held within two years). Bidault, who served in De Gaulle's cabinet and has high personal regard for him, was known to be less opposed to such a deal than other M.R.P. leaders, including Teitgen.

But last week, Bidault would only say that both M.R.P. and De Gaulle served France--"but in different ways." De Gaulle, he added, was a "brilliant and fleeting hope."

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