C.I.A. in discussion of plot against de Gaulle

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33870, 16 June 1975, Page 17

C.I.A. in discussion of plot against de Gaulle

(N.Z Press Assn—Copyright) CHICAGO, June 15. Congressional leaders have been told of Central Intelligence Agency involvement in a French dissidents’ plot to assassinate the late President Charles de Gaule, the “Chicago Tribune” said today. Within the last two weeks a C.I.A. representative gave sketchy details of the scheme to Congressmen, the newspaper said. Several Congressional committees are beginning separate inquiries into ;the C.I.A. and its alleged in-

yolvement in plots to kill foreign leaders. Other leaders who are reported to have been targets of plots involving the C.I.A. were the Cuban Prime Minister, Dr Fidel Castro, and the Dominican dictator, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. The briefing definitely established that a plan to kill General de Gaulle had at least been discussed a decade ago by persons in the C.1.A., a "Chicago Tribune” columnist, Bob Weidrich, said. But there was no indication how deeply or at what level the proposal penetrated the agency. A similar story published a week ago in the “Boston Globe” said that the dissidents approached the C.I.A.

but were unable to get the agency involved in the antide Gaulle plot.

The “Chicago Tribune” said that the C.I.A. representative disclosed the following details to the Congressmen:

In the mid 19605, probably 1965 or 1966, dissidents in the French Government are said to have asked the C.I.A for help in murdering General de Gaulle. Which party instigated the contact is not made clear. The scheme was hatched after two overt attempts on General de Gaulle’s life by Right-wing opponents had failed in 1961 and 1962. Discussions were held on how best to eliminate General de Gaulle, the C.I.A. briefing officer said. General de Gaulle had become an irritant to the Government of the then-President, Lyndon Johnson, because of his demands that United States forces withdraw from the Indo-China war and other stands, the newspaper noted. There is no indication the plot got beyond the talking stage. However, the plot was to be carried out by slipping a hired assassin armed with a poison ring into a crowd of French veterans when General de Gaulle was to. host a reception for them. The assassin would clasp the general’s hand and General de Gaulle would fail to detect a tiny pinprick of poison. The assassin would stroll off and become lost in the crowd, while the poison took effect. There is no hint, the newspaper said, of what the C.l.A.’s role would have been, or whether the C.I.A. was to have provided the assassin, the ring, or merely give unofficial sanction for the killing. There also was no evidence that Mr Johnson had any knowledge of the plot, the newspaper said.