Editorial Note
On June 12, the Laniel government was defeated on a vote of confidence, 304–292. Laniel and his Cabinet resigned the following day, and on June 14, President Coty designated Pierre Mendès-France to form a new government. Mendès-France immediately began “ardently going through preliminaries of preparing investiture” (telegram 4856 from Paris, June 15, 751.00/6–1554). With respect to EDC, Mendès-France informed a meeting of the Radical Party on June 15 “that he will propose plan which, in brief, will give both pro-and anti-EDC [Page 973] factions limited time to adjust their differences, with or without the inclusion of an exchange solution’ and then, if they fail (they undoubtedly would), agree to bring the debate to the Assembly floor before the summer recess” though it was unclear from his remarks whether Mendès-France would bring the debate to the Assembly floor with or without government support (telegram 4889 from Paris, June 16, 751.00/6–1654). In telegram 4893 from Paris, June 17, Dillon reported that he had seen Maurice Schumann and Pierre-Henri Teitgen, leader of the Mouvement Républicain Populaire, at dinner the previous evening, and both men had assured him “that MRP will stand absolutely firm and will only support a new government favoring the EDC” (751.00/6–1754). On June 18 Mendès-France won his investiture vote 419 to 47 with 155 abstentions.