No. 625
Editorial Note
After 7 days of balloting, the joint session of the French National Assembly and the Council of the Republic elected René Coty to be the new French President on December 23, 1953. Coty’s election as the second President of France under the Fourth Republic took place on the 13th ballot. According to Embassy officials, the deadlock in this election which caused so many ballots was another indication that the 7-year trend to the political right had come to a halt and was possibly being reversed. In telegram 2371 from Paris, December 22, Embassy officials concluded that the “spectacle of confusion and impotence offered by Versailles Congress is widely considered as one of national humiliation and as involving serious weakening of democratic fiber of the country.” (751.00/12–2253)
Upon the recommendation of the Department of State, President Eisenhower sent a message of congratulations to President Coty on December 23. (Memorandum for the President, December 23; Secretary’s Letters, lot 56 D 459, “Memoranda for the President, June–Dec. 1953”) For the text of this message, see Department of State Bulletin, January 11, 1954, page 47. Reports concerning the election of Coty, including brief biographical sketches, are in file 751.00. According to telegram 2404 from Paris, December 24, Coty’s position on the controversial issues was unclear because of his absence from the recent debates concerning Indochina and other foreign affairs issues due to illness. It appeared, however, that he was pro-European and definitely pro-EDC. (751.521/12–2453)