SENEGAL ONLY ONE HAT THREE MONTHS AGO, IN A BITTER END TO 
A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP, POET-PRESIDENT LEOPOLD SENGHOR OF PEANUT-GROWING SENEGAL, ON THE 
WEST AFRICAN COAST, BOOTED OUT OF OFFICE HIS OLD FRIEND, PREMIER 
MAMADOU DIA, AFTER DIA HAD TURNED ON SENGHOR IN AN ATTEMPTED 
COUP . LAST WEEK, IN A REFERENDUM RUN OFF WHILE DIA 
LANGUISHED BEHIND THE BARBED WIRE OF A MILITARY CAMP OUTSIDE DAKAR 
AWAITING TRIAL FOR TREASON, THE 56-YEAR-OLD SENGHOR LEGALIZED HIS POSITION AS 
SENEGAL'S STRONGMAN . WHILE PRO-SENGHOR DEMONSTRATORS CHANTED, " A SINGLE HAT 
ON A SINGLE HEAD, " MORE THAN 1,000,000 SENEGALESE, SHUFFLED TO 
THE POLLS AND HANDED SENGHOR A 99.5 PER CENT OUI ON 
A NEW SENGHOR-TAILORED CONSTITUTION . TRUE TO THE SLOGAN, THE NEW 
CHARTER SCRAPS SENEGAL'S TWO-MAN, PRESIDENT-PREMIER SYSTEM IN FAVOR OF A SINGLE, 
STRONG PRESIDENCY FOR SENGHOR . THE VICTORY WAS RESOUNDING PROOF OF 
SENGHOR'S SUPPORT AMONG SENEGAL'S MASSES, AND IT IS MADE ALL THE 
MORE IMPRESSIVE BY THE FACT THAT HE IS A ROMAN CATHOLIC 
IN A 70 PER CENT MOSLEM LAND . BUT THE OUTCOME 
WAS ALSO, IN A SENSE, A PAINFUL DEFEAT FOR BLACK AFRICA'S 
MOST DISTINGUISHED INTELLECTUAL . FOR IT HAD BEEN THE BESPECTACLED SENGHOR 
WHO ORIGINALLY INSTALLED SENEGAL'S TWO-HEADED SYSTEM OF DIVIDED POWERS AFTER LEADING 
THE COUNTRY INTO INDEPENDENCE 2F YEARS AGO . UNTIL HE AND 
DIA FELL OUT, FRENCH-ORIENTED SENGHOR LOFTILY RIDICULED OTHER FRENCH AFRICAN NATIONS 
THAT HAD CHOSEN ONE-MAN RULE . NOW, WHATEVER HIS CONTINUING POPULARITY 
AT HOME, SENGHOR HAS PROBABLY LOST SOME OF HIS EFFECTIVENESS AS 
THE LEADING SPOKESMAN FOR POLITICAL LIBERALISM IN FORMER FRENCH AFRICA . 
THE BRILLIANT SENGHOR'S INTELLECTUAL CREDENTIALS ARE IMPRESSIVE INDEED . HIS MUCHDISCUSSED 
POETIC WORKS INCLUDE CHANTS D'OMBRE, ETHIOPIQUES AND NOCTURNES . WITH MARTINIQUE'S 
POET AIME CESAIRE, SENGHOR FOUNDED THE MYSTIC PHILOSOPHY OF " NEGRITUDE 
. " SENGHOR WAS THE FIRST AFRICAN EVER TO WIN FRANCE'S 
COVETED AGREGATION DE GRAMMAIRE ACADEMIC DEGREE, AND HE SERVED WITH DISTINCTION 
AS A TERRITORIAL MEMBER OF THE POSTWAR FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY . 
BY ALL ACCOUNTS, HE HAS BEEN BROODING OVER THE POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCES 
WHICH FORCED HIM TO END HIS 17-YEAR FRIENDSHIP WITH DIA AND 
TAKE OVER AS STRONGMAN . BUT SENGHOR WAS NOT LIKELY TO 
LET HIS SENSE OF GUILT GET HIM DOWN . HE IS, 
AFTER ALL, A STRONG ADMIRER OF CHARLES DE GAULLE, AND MODELED 
HIS NEW CONSTITUTION PARTLY ON DE GAULLE'S DESIGN FOR THE FIFTH 
REPUBLIC IN PARIS . PERHAPS WITH HIS MENTOR IN MIND, SENGHOR 
CONCEDED IN ONE OF HIS POEMS THAT " ABSOLUTE POWER REQUIRES 
THE BLOOD OF THE MOST DEAR BEING . " IN ANY 
CASE, BY WEEK'S END HE HAD GRANDLY CHRISTENED SENEGAL'S NEW REGIME, 
" LA DEUXIEME REPUBLIQUE . HIS WIFE COLETTE, AN ATTRACTIVE WOMAN 
IN HER 30S, IS FROM NORMANDY . 