TUNISIA DOUBLE JEOPARDY AS A DEDICATED TUNISIAN NATIONALIST, PRESIDENT HABIB BOURGUIBA, 59, 
IS A POPULAR HERO TO MOST OF THE MILLIONS WHO HAVE 
FOLLOWED HIM SINCE INDEPENDENCE WAS WON IN 1956 . BUT BOURGUIBA 
ALSO HAS HIS DEADLY ENEMIES . LAST WEEK A DETERMINED GROUP 
OF THE LATTER ALMOST SUCCEEDED IN ASSASSINATING TUNISIA'S STOCKY CHIEFTAIN . 
THE PLOTTERS ACTUALLY MADE TWO ATTEMPTS ON BOURGUIBA'S LIFE . THE 
FIRST TRY FAILED ON DEC . 15 BECAUSE BOURGUIBA DID NOT 
SPEND THE NIGHT AT HIS PRESIDENTIAL PALACE AT CARTHAGE, NEAR TUNIS 
. THE PLOTTERS NEXT LAID THEIR PLANS FOR MIDNIGHT, DEC . 
21, AND EVEN BOURGUIBA'S PERSONAL BODYGUARD AGREED TO LEAD THE KILLERS 
TO THE PRESIDENT'S BEDSIDE . NO REPLACEMENT . A FEW HOURS 
BEFORE MIDNIGHT, A TUNISIAN ARMY NON-COM BURST IN UPON A DEFENSE 
MINISTRY OFFICIAL AND BLURTED THE DETAILS OF THE PLOT . THAT 
NIGHT, AND ON FOLLOWING DAYS, MORE THAN A HUNDRED PLOTTERS WERE 
JAILED . THEY PROVED TO BE A HANDFUL OF DISSIDENT ARMY 
OFFICERS AND SOME DISGRUNTLED LANDOWNERS . BUT THE HARD CORE SEEMED 
TO BE SUPPORTERS OF BOURGUIBA'S OLD FOE, THE LATE SALAH BEN 
YOUSSEF, WHO LOST A BITTER STRUGGLE FOR CONTROL OF NEO-DESTOUR, TUNISIA'S 
ONLY POLITICAL PARTY, AND WENT INTO EXILE IN 1955 . WHEN 
BEN YOUSSEF WAS MURDERED IN WEST GERMANY IN 1961 HIS FOLLOWERS 
BACK HOME BLAMED BOURGUIBA AGENTS, SWORE VENGEANCE ON TUNISIA'S BOSS HIMSELF 
. THE PLOTTERS' ONLY PLAN, APPARENTLY, WAS TO SLAY THE PRESIDENT 
. SAID BOURGUIBA : " AFTER MY DEATH THE COUNTRY WOULD 
HAVE BEEN IN A STATE OF TOTAL ANARCHY . THE PLOTTERS 
THOUGHT ONLY OF ELIMINATING ME, NOT REPLACING ME . " CROWDS 
GATHERED TO HEAR OFFICIAL SPEECHES OF INDIGNATION AT THE ATTEMPT ON 
BOURGUIBA'S LIFE . THERE SEEMED LITTLE DOUBT THAT HE STILL HELD 
THE NATION'S BASIC LOYALTY, BUT EVEN HIS CLOSEST FRIENDS WERE CONCERNED 
AT THE RECENT SIGNS OF UNREST CAUSED BY THREE SUCCESSIVE YEARS 
OF DROUGHT AND AN UNEMPLOYMENT LEVEL OF 400,000 OUT OF A 
POPULATIONS OF 4,000,000 . BOURGUIBA IS ALSO AWARE OF THE MUTTERING 
OF MANY ABOUT THE THREE EXPENSIVE NEW PALACES HE HAS RECENTLY 
BUILT . THESE " BELONG TO THE STATE, " HE RETORTED 
IN HIS " I AM ALIVE / SPEECH . HE ADDED 
WITH SOME BITTERNESS : " THERE IS A TENDENCY TO FORGET 
THAT I SPENT 30 YEARS IN FRENCH JAILS FOR MY COUNTRY 
. " KNOCKED HEADS . IN HIS EFFORTS TO RESHAPE TUNISIA 
AS A MODERN NATION, BOURGUIBA HAS HAD TO KNOCK HEADS TOGETHER 
. INEVITABLY, SOME ARMY OFFICERS RESENT THE BACKSEAT ROLE HE GIVES 
THE MILITARY . AND MOSLEM RELIGIOUS LEADERS ARE ANGERED BY HIS 
ATTEMPT TO ABOLISH THE DAY-LONG FASTS OF THE MONTH OF RAMADAN, 
AND BY HIS EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN . A U.S .INVESTIGATING COMMITTEE 
IN 1961 AGREED THAT BOURGUIBA WAS MAKING THE RIGHT MOVES TO 
SOLVE TUNIS'S ECONOMIC ILLS, BUT WARNED THAT HE MIGHT BE ASKING 
TOO GREAT SACRIFICES OF HIS PEOPLE . AFTER LAST WEEK'S BRUSH 
WITH DEATH, BOURGUIBA MAY GO FORWARD A BIT MORE SLOWLY, AND 
CAN UNDOUBTEDLY DRAW SOME SUPPORT FROM THE FACT THAT LAST MONTH 
THE U.S . FINALLY AGREED TO GRANT TUNISIA $180 MILLION IN 
ECONOMIC AID OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS . 