Editorial Note
No official record of the substance of this conversation has been found. The information set forth above is derived from the Log, ante, p. 524. French politics was the subject of the discussion, according to the mention of the meeting in Elliott Roosevelt, p. 84. It was probably at this meeting that Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to invite de Gaulle and Giraud to join them at Casablanca. A British day-to-day summary of communications with Giraud and de Gaulle, not printed, records the following for January 16:
Air Commodore F’s invitation to de Gaulle despatched. Foreign Secretary replied that he was seeing de Gaulle the following day (January 17th). General Eisenhower, on return to Algiers, conveyed similar invitation from Admiral Q. to General Giraud. General Giraud’s reply, accepting, received late the same night. (Roosevelt Papers)
In his telegram of January 16 to Hull, post, p. 810, Roosevelt informed the Secretary of the invitations which had been sent to the two French leaders. Murphy, p. 171, recalls that it was during the first three days of the Conference that Churchill persuaded Roosevelt to agree to a formula which would offer de Gaulle joint political leadership with Giraud in North Africa.
In his account of the decision to send invitations to de Gaulle and Giraud, Macmillan (pp. 244–246) does not mention this morning conversation. Macmillan recalls first calling upon Roosevelt (who was in bed) at 6 p.m. on January 15. Churchill and Eisenhower were already present, and Murphy arrived soon after. There was a short [Page 580] discussion of conditions in North Africa. Macmillan further recalls that he joined Roosevelt, Churchill, and Murphy after dinner on January 15 for a discussion of possible invitations to de Gaulle and Giraud to come to Casablanca. Macmillan expressed fear that both generals would resent such a plan, but a decision was nevertheless made to despatch the invitations.
The text of Churchill’s message of invitation to de Gaulle, dated January 16, is printed in de Gaulle, Documents, p. 126, and it also appears in Macmillan, pp. 245–246. Regarding the delivery of the invitation to de Gaulle by Eden on January 17, see the cable from Eden to Churchill, January 17, post, p. 815.