Jackie Kennedy asked Charles de Gaulle who, among recent statesmen, had the greatest sense of humor. "Stalin," he replied. But he obviously meant De Gaulle.

FROM radios and television sets throughout France last week came the hoarse, oracular voice that every Frenchman tries hopelessly to imitate. It belonged to Charles de Gaulle, who in a nationwide address announced his plans for a strengthened presidential system by which his successor would be elected directly by the people (TIME, Sept. 21). Though De Gaulle's proposal would short-circuit the constitution and has already enraged politicians of all parties, his grandiloquent dialogue between "you Frenchmen and Frenchwomen and my self" only heightened the curious blend of awe, irritation and amusement with which most Frenchmen today regard their President. Through endless anecdotes, his mordant wit and sovereign self-assurance have become as firmly lodged in the French imagination as Cyrano's nose.

The argosy of gaullismes was enriched this week with publication of The Words of the General (Fayard, Paris), a treasury of De Gaulle's most revealing epigrams and acerb asides that has been pseudonymously compiled by the aide to a long time Gaullist official. While some of his ban mots may have grown bonnier in telling, and others may be wholly apocryphal, who can say for sure? Who, that is, but The General?

On How to Succeed. Though his subordinates have no hesitation about confiscating newspapers and magazines that criticize the general, De Gaulle himself is magnificently unconcerned by adverse press comment. After listening to a Cabinet member's objections to a hostile newspaper article, le President observed: "If you are a minister, you do not complain about newspapers. You don't even read them. You write them." When an other Cabinet minister protested that a younger colleague was unscrupulous, intellectually dishonest and immoral to boot, De Gaulle cut him short with the observation: "That's comforting! I thought ministers were capable of nothing."

On Politics. Some of De Gaulle's keener barbs have been aimed at the politicians who resisted his return to power in 1958. "Since a politician never believes what he says," he once mused, "he is absolutely nonplussed when he is taken at his word." At a Gaullist rally in 1956, an orator demanded death for the leaders of the Fourth Republic, repeating for De Gaulle's benefit: "Mon general, we must kill all those asses." Nodded De Gaulle: "A vast program.'' After his election, when the President decided to fire some balky Cabinet ministers, Premier Michel Debre pointed out the hardships they would face when they returned to ordinary life. "Come, come," interrupted De Gaulle. "They'll always find a spot for themselves." After all, he explained after a pause, "they've been ministers of De Gaulle."

De Gaulle has little faith in diplomats. "They are only all right in consistently good weather," he says. "As soon as it rains, they drown in each drop." As for the military mind: "The worst calamity, after a stupid general, is an intelligent one."

On His Contemporaries. Dwight Eisenhower did not just pick brains--he "sponged on genius." De Gaulle's verdict on Field Marshal Montgomery: "He's no soldier, he's an actor. But he plays so well at being a leader that he manages to identify himself with the part." De Gaulle's image of De Gaulle was most memorably expressed to a courageous colleague who protested that he needlessly endangers his life by mingling with the crowds on official tours. Answered De Gaulle: "Keep in mind one thing, sir. De Gaulle interests me only as a historic personage." While reading him the order of the day during one of his provincial tours, a local prefect got no farther than "11 o'clock--Mass." "Ah," interrupted the President, "Mass is my favorite ceremony!" Dreamily, De Gaulle explained: "Yes, church is the only place where, when someone addresses me, I don't have to answer."

Le grand Charles has learned to sheathe his wit, particularly with beautiful women. Though he can barely see them without his glasses, he cannot bear to be seen by them with his glasses, and is forced to peer studiously into their faces while they talk. During President and Mrs. Kennedy's state visit to Paris in 1961, Jackie was unfolding the story of her life when she asked, "You realize. General, that my family is of French origin?" De Gaulle exclaimed drily: "Well now, so is mine!"* At the same banquet, Jacqueline Kennedy bubbled: "You, General, who have known so many interesting people in your life, tell me, which one had the greatest sense of humor?" De Gaulle's deadpan reply: "Stalin, Madame."

De Gaulle is convinced that his "national imprint" raises him above politics. When his Gaullist U.N.R. party was organized in 1958, he was asked whether it should be a party of the right, center or left. Declared the general: "De Gaulle is not of the left. Nor of the right. Nor of the center. De Gaulle is above " After the 1962 referendum on the Algerian peace agreement, an aide ran to the Elysee Palace to tell the President that he had won a staggering 90% majority. De Gaulle pondered the news, then leaped to his feet. "This country," he thundered, "is flabby!"

On the French. On another occasion, De Gaulle despaired aloud: "How can you govern a country with 246 varieties of cheese?" The French, he complains, "think only about stuffing themselves and living better," adding: "This is hardly a national purpose." On the other hand, he shrugs: "Every Frenchman wants to have one or two special privileges. That's his way of showing his passion for equality."

De Gaulle has been preoccupied with France's greatness since earliest childhood. He once confided to his aides: "As a child, I loved to play at war. My brothers and I divided up our toy soldiers. Xavier had Italy. Pierre had Germany. And I, gentlemen--I always had France." Even at the lowest ebb of the war, a Free French officer who was poring over a map of occupied Europe heard the general's high, familiar voice at his shoulder: "Wasting your time, mon vieux. You'd do better studying a map of the world." Another officer in London asked De Gaulle to be more generous in sharing intelligence reports of the enemy's plans. "See here!" barked the general. "To win, it is not enough to know what the enemy wants. Above all, you have to know what you yourself want."

What most impresses everyone close to him is Charles de Gaulle's Olympian assurance that the will of De Gaulle will prevail. The instructions for night-duty officers at the Elysee Palace read simply: "Do Not Disturb the President of the Republic Except in Case of World War."

*Without mentioning what was then the most closely guarded of Gaullist secrets: the fact that his maternal great-great-grandfather was born in Germany. De Gaulle's Teutonic ancestor was Ludwig Phillip Kolb, a barber-surgeon in Napoleon's army, who was born in Grotzingen in 1761 and fell to British bullets at Waterloo.

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