Evening star., 1951-01-14
By julia Edwords

Two Frenchwomen, Partisan to
the flngertips but q world apart
in what they represent, have
grown to epitomize to the women
of Western Europe what the strug-
gle between East and West Is
about.
When Maurice Thorez. head OF
the French Communist Party, suf-
fered a paralytic stroke. his wife.
jeanette Vermeersch, bundled him
off to Moscow by plane for medi-
cal treatment. The fight squelched
all who still insisted that French
Communists were French inspired.
Many Americans saw the wife
of ThoreZ for the first time In the
newsreels. fitting well the part Of
wife and nurse. The French know
her better as a red-hot orator and
militant organizer. In the Cham
Der of Deputies she cuts a strident
figure. Her departure gave anti
Communists q chance to recoup
the ground she has cut from under
them. For she had undertaken to
turn her sex in France against the
United States. Her successes have
made her the leading woman Com
munist of Western Europe.
What advantage anti-Commu-
mist women can take Of her alb
sence depends Importantly on
Suzanne Borel Bidault. Nine.
Bidault is the most influential
woman in France. Career diplo-
mat and resistance organizer, she
serves as confidential adviser to
her husband. Georges Bidault.
Twice Premier of France since
their marriage, he now is Deputy
Premier as well as president of
the Movement Republican, Popu-
laire. His party. standing between
the Socialists on the left and the
De Gaullists on the right, holds
the best chance of uniting the
opposition to communism in
France.
Some Parallels
The two women have more in
common than meets the European
eye. Both climbed aggressively as
single women, and they have mar
ried since the war two of the most
important men in France.
Both women speak Russian and
speak about the Soviet Union
from first-hand experience.
Each in her own way has
whipped up a furor to delight
the quixotic French sense of
humor. jeanette by thumbing her
nose at the presiding officer of
the French Chamber of Deputies,
Suzanne by insisting upon being
Suzy.
"Suzy Beedo," as she is called
by all, looks like a Frenchwoman
should look. Americans say. She
is dark. exuberant and trim, not
pretty.
At public functions she is
spotted easily by her extreme hats,
which help give an impression
that her small. reserved husband
walks in her shade. When she is
greeting diplomats her husky voice
shifts smoothly among six Ian
guages. Besides Russian and
French she speaks English, Ital-
ian, some German and Chinese.
Daughter of a French Army Of
flcer. Marie Nancy Suzanne Borel
took up languages to carry out
the wild idea, for a French girl,
of joining the diplomatic corps.
In country where women still
supposedly prefer to run their
husbands, she is the only woman
ever to have passed the examina-
ton for diplomatic attache. She
started out on cultural relations.
In Is years she worked up to
the foreign service rank of en-
bassy councillor, first-class. Some
what nostalgically, she notes she
would have the top title of Min
lister of the Republic had not she
gone on inactive status to marry.
The French traditionally give
the cabinet as little power as
possible. So there may be truth
as we'll as French humor In the