Industrialist Hosts France’s First Lady

Above Westwood on the 16th floor of Occidental Petroleum’s headquarters, Armand Hammer guided Danielle Mitterrand, wife of French President Francois Mitterrand, through his private quarters.

The 91-year-old industrialist escorted Mitterrand down a long corridor lined with his Rubenses, his Van Goghs and his French Impressionist paintings. He personally ushered her into a small room for a peak at the Codex Hammer by Leonardo da Vinci. And then he led her over to a big picture window to see the piece de resistance: The Hole.

The large crater below was filled with tractors and workmen putting in overtime to dig a depression five floors deep for a parking structure that will eventually accommodate the Armand Hammer Museum of Art, which Hammer is said to be determined to see completed in October, 1990.

“Mrs. Mitterrand enjoyed looking at the big hole,” observed Diane Glazer, a guest at a small party held in the French first lady’s honor, at which French and U. S. security agents seemed to outnumber the 40 diners. Since Mitterrand doesn’t speak English, many people, including the Hollywood contingent--Ted and Susie Field and Ted and Rhonda Fleming Mann--were reduced to reading her facial expressions.

Looking downward at the hole, newly reelected Mayor Tom Bradley, who stopped in for a drink and then dashed off to another party, gasped, “It’s absolutely mind-boggling, and all of that is parking .”

Although the purpose of the dinner was, according to someone traveling with her, “completement amicable” (a friendly gesture), Mitterrand, it turned out, was there on a serious mission.

Following his welcoming toast, Hammer explained that Mitterrand was traveling across the country (her visit to Los Angeles lasted only six hours) to discuss France-Libertes, the international human rights foundation she founded in 1980. “She believes every human being is entitled to a decent life,” Hammer said.

Mitterrand, who was here without her husband, then eloquently spoke through an interpreter about her aim of bringing dignity to all people who suffer from hunger, disease or degradation. “Yes, I go and meet with the women and children who live in their misery and courage, and yes, I transmit their testimony,” she said. “I address myself to people who understand my message, whether heads of industry or students or workers, Democrats or Republicans, it doesn’t matter.”

After returning to France that evening, Mrs. Mitterrand was scheduled to depart the next day for Armenia to see how she can help “reconstruct the country after the earthquake,” said Raphael Doueb, director of France-Libertes. Hammer, it was pointed out, also helped to organize relief efforts to Armenian earthquake victims.

Mitterrand, who was a Resistance officer during World War II, referred to the ideals of Robert Kennedy and then cited an old French expression, “If we don’t have the means to furnish the whole loaf of bread, we certainly have the means to bring the yeast.”

“It’s a tremendous task for one woman,” Hammer noted of her cause.

Dressed in a simple navy dress by Yves Saint Laurent with a gigantic sapphire floral necklace and clutching a palm-sized gold minaudiere, Mitterrand sat next to Hammer for dinner in Occidental’s dark wood-paneled board room underneath a huge Rubens painting of Juno, the Roman queen of heaven.

Joining them at the head table were Jerry and Jane Weintraub (she, fluent in French); Jean-Paul Scarpitta, who is traveling with the first lady; and Luanne and Frank Wells. He is president and chief operating officer of the Walt Disney Co., which is currently building Euro Disneyland near Paris.

Other guests at dinner included Hammer’s grandson Michael Hammer and his wife Dru, French Consul General Gerard Coste, Guilford Glazer, Abigail Van Buren, Arthur and Miriam Groman, Nathan and Lilly Shapell and Occidental president Ray Irani.

Of the connection between Hammer and Mitterrand, the two met seven years ago in Paris when Hammer showed his Codex Hammer in France. “Since then we’ve had an ongoing cordial relationship,” Hammer said. In 1983, Francois Mitterrand decorated him as a Commander of the National Order of the French Legion of Honor.

Asked what she shared in common with her fellow humanitarian and host, Mitterrand replied: “A hope in life and in peace, and a great optimism.”