851.00/2023: Telegram
The Deputy Ambassador in France (Biddle) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 17—10 a.m.]
11. Pétain and a peace cabinet have succeeded Reynaud. The latter sent for me at 11 tonight. He was calm and entirely himself again—a man relieved of an enormous weight but for the future of France. “I have remained faithful to my word” he said, “and loyal to my policy of closest collaboration with Great Britain and the United States. I shall always remain convinced that such is the only policy. The majority felt the sacrifices France is being called to make are too great to continue. I have resigned and the President has appointed Marshal Pétain in my place. I am profoundly grateful for what your President has done and I hope you will express my gratitude.”
Pétain will of course immediately seek an armistice by direct approach, Reynaud thinks to the enemy lines.
His collaborators are Vice President Chautemps (if he accepts); National Defense, Weygand; War, Colson; Foreign Affairs, Baudoin; Justice, Laval; Interior, Marquet (Mayor of Bordeaux); Labor, Paul [Page 262] Fauré (leader of the pacifist wing of the Socialist Party); Finance, Boutill [Bouthillier?]; Public Works, Frossard. The rest said Reynaud are “of no importance”. The Ministry of Information (so called) has been abolished.
While it now belongs to history Reynaud referred in glowing terms to Churchill[’s] “reply” this afternoon. It was far-reaching in scope: it meant in reality a fusion of the two great Empires. It might he said have marked the beginning of a United States of Europe. The chance has now been lost.