Evening star., 1941-03-10
Mystery of Choutemps Mission Here
Heightened by His Insistence on Privacy
Ex-Premier, Living
Near Embassy, Has
Diplomatic Visa
BY BLAIR BOLLES.

one block from the French Embassy.
His whole manner of life is testi-
mony to the truth of what he told
the press upon his arrival in this
country and what he tells his grow
ing circle of friends now-that he
is in the United States simply as a
private citizen.
His first devotion is his family,
his wife and four children. His
second is the English language,
which he studies daily-in the morn
ing by newspaper reading, in the
afternoon by composing some simple
theme in English prose, corrected by
tutor. OF politics he says nothing.
This insistence upon his purely
| private interest in visiting the
United States only heightens the
mystery of M. Chautemps.
1t is learned that he was ad-
mitted to the United States on a
diplomatic passport, for which a
visa is authorized by the State De-
partment only when the passports
user comes with an official status.
May Stay Indefinitely.
His diplomatic visa permits him
| to stay in the United States in
definitely. If his purpose in COM
ing here was to escape the con-
f1agration of Europe, he is safe for
as long as he wishes. 1t was re-
ported from Lisbon before he sailed
for this country that he travelled
only on a visitors visa.
He has no formal, official or ad-
mitted relations with the embassy,
where CASTOR Henry-Haye. Senator
of Versailles, is the Ambassador. 1t
probably is only an accident that
he moved to within a block of the
embassy after staying for a while
at the Wardman Park Hotel He
lives in an ample suite with a staff
of four servants at 210l Connecticut
avenue NV, corner of Kalorama
road. The address of the French
Embassy is 1921 Kalorama road.
The possession of a diplomatic
visa presumes always communica-
ton to the State Department from
the government in the country
where the seeker of the visa
originated. The department wants
/ to know what official business the
! passports holder is coming on.
When he reached Washington. he
lunched with President Roosevelt.
Involved in the intricate chain Of
events which brought him to Wash
ington are all the extraordinary
riValries and factions which in nor
NAL times go to give coloration to
French politics and which in these
days especially are heightened by
I the international difficulties in
which the French government is
placed
Welded Strong Power.
The conduct of the war rested
in considerable measure upon the
counselS OF NJ, Chautemps, who
welded strong power through his
long eminence in the French politi-
Chieftainship of the Radical-Social-
iSt party and through his control
over French Free Masonry.
He was Vice Premier in the war
cabinet of Paul Revnaud. whose COL
lapse in June, 1910, signaled the
decision of France to capitulate to
the axis. In the hard days follow
ing the surrender, M Chautemps
raised his voice in the conferences
concerning what moves the French
government should make His urg-
ings were opposed unsuccessfully to
the urgings of Pierre Laval, then
the Vice Premier, second man of
the state after Marshal Petain.
Ambassador Henry Hayes appoint
ment depended upon his champion
ship by Laval. Senator Henry-Haye
was Ambassador here when the
Vichy government made the ar
rangements for a diplomatic visa
for M. Chautemps. who reached
the United States two months after
the Ambassador presented his Gre
dentials as the successor of Count
Rene de ST. Quentin. Senator
Henry -Haye came to Washington in
September. NJ Chautemps was in
the United States in November and
in Washington by late December
Feared for His Safety.
The tenure of Ambassador Henry
Haye depends on extensions of his
mission every six months, for French
Senators are permitted to remain
abroad away from their nominal
duties only six months at time
The Ambassador recently received
an extension to July !.
Heightening the mystery of NJ
Chautemps' mission is the circu-
lation here of one exciting story
offered authoritatively as an eX-
planation of the difficulties put in
the way of M. Chautemps' travels
from France to the New World.
He was denied admission to Spain.
Here it is said that Berlin wanted
him to remain France and that
Germany requested Serano Suner,
Spanish Foreign Minister, to ask
his caudillo. Gen. Franco, that
Chautemps be kept out of Spain.
The Vichy government said in
midsummer that M. Chautemps
had been given a diplomatic assign
ment in Brazil, and Brazil ap-
parently was his destination when
M. Chautemps left France. proceed
ing, since entrance to Spain was
denied him, across the Mediter-
ranean to Morocco. He was encour-
aged. it said, by Petain and spurred
by the knowledge his continued
presence in France was unsafe.
With him were his wife and four
children, one of them a baby of
two months, Antoinette, born after
the invasion of France was begun.
Source of Funds a Mystery.
From Morocco the Chautemps
family proceeded to Lisbon in a
fishing smack, a rough trip through
a storm. lasting in all 68 hours
| In Lisbon, M. Chautemps seemed
| to abandon all thought of Brazil.
He arranged passage to the United
States, and after a wait, received
his visa. He sailed at last on the