Evening star., 1961-11-05
PORTRAIT AMBASSADOR ALpHAND
A Career Diplomat with Unity in Mind

ANNIO
phand Joined Gen. DeGaulle in
London. He was soon appointed
Director of Economic Affairs for
the French National Committee.
He made frequent trips back to
this country during the war. In
I943 he represented both Gen. De-
Gaulle and Gen. Giraud at the
United Nations Conference on
Food and Agriculture at Hot
Springs, Va. He told the delegates
that France was starving under
German occupation and urged an
Allied invasion to restore his
country to freedom.
When Gen. DeGaulle came to
the United States in 1914, Mr..
Alphand accompanied him. That
mission resulted in the recogni-
tion Of DeGaulle's provisional
government by the United States.
The next year he was back
again, this time as a French dele
gate to the United Nations Con-
ference in San Francisco from
April to June. In the immediate
postwar period he negotiated
credit agreements for his country
with the United States and Great
Britain and a five-year trade
agreement with the Soviet Union.
MorshoII Plan Role
When the Marshall Plan was
in its formative stage, he played
a major role in preparing the
l6-nation report that launched
it. He achieved the rank Of Am
bassador in August 1948, just af-
ter he had turned Al.
Thirteen years Of diplomatic
dining have left him with a
marked preference for simple food
French cuisine, of course. Keep .
ing it simple and good is the most
difficult kind of cooking, he be-
lieves. He once told friend that
he did not like garlic, or onions
or curry; they are only ingredients
put into a bad dish to make 1t
more original, he said.
He prefers French wines but re-
CARDS American cocktails as "a
good invention" so long as they
don't kill ones taste.
He himself is partial to the
dry martini.
His custom is to smoke two
cigars a day, one after lunch an
other after dinner. If possible they
are lighted by his wife. There is
a special technique for lighting
good cigars, the Ambassador be-
lieves, and it takes the help OF
an understanding wife, preferably
equipped with a candle, to do 1t
properly.
Gesture From Kennedy
The mansion in which the Al
phands live on Kalorama road is
one of the outstanding showpieces
in the Washington diplomatic
community. When fire seriously
damaged their home one evening
while the Ambassador and Ma
dame Alphand were at dinner,
President Kennedy telephoned to
invite them to stay at Blair House
until the damage could be re-
paired.
Ambassador Alphand was
touched and grateful for the Pres
ident'S concern. 1t was nice ges-
ture for France, he later said. even
though Mr.. Kennedy made the
offer on a purely personal basis.
But the Ambassador refused to
move out. He has no navy ex-
perience but apparently took very
seriously the responsibility of the
captain not to desert his ship.
So the Alphands sidestepped the
scaffolding, paint buckets and
painters for the weeks while the
repairs were made.
The Alphands did use Blair
House on one occasion, when
they entertained the Coincide
Franchise at a large reception.
Mrs. Kennedy, who won the af-
lection of the people Of Paris as
quickly as Madame Alphand stole
the heart of Washington, dropped
in to meet the company.