851B.01/26
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
The Ambassador80 came in at his own request. He inquired about the Martinique situation, to which I replied that we were giving the matter, including the airplane question, every attention at all practicable. I said we were endeavoring to deal with this problem as we are with the general French situation, with a view to acquiring the best results without giving the Vichy Government an opportunity to arouse prejudice or bitterness against us among the French population and military forces; that the test of the limit of our efforts in Martinique is the extent we can go without accomplishing more harm than good in the foregoing respect; that, therefore, we are observing closely the airplane situation as well as other matters, realizing that when the French naval commander at Martinique gets a message from Vichy it might well be in fact a message from Berlin in disguise.
- The British Ambassador.↩