Roosevelt Papers
McCrea Notes
Memorandum for the President’s Files
At 4:20 p.m., January 17, 1943, the President received General Henri Giraud, Commander of the French Armies in North Africa. Present also were Lieutenant General Wayne M. [Mark W.] Clark, U. S. Army, Minister Robert D. Murphy and Captain John L. McCrea, U. S. Navy.
After pleasantries had been exchanged, the conversation got down to specific cases. General Giraud early stated that there was only one thing that mattered in all the activity of today and that was the future of France. He stated that in his judgment, all personal ambitions [Page 610] should be subordinated to this thought and that he for one was most willing to do this. He stated that he believed there should be no discussions on a political level and that the civil administrations of French possessions and protectorates in Africa should remain as they are now established. Here followed a discussion of sovereignty, the President pointing out that sovereignty in the United States and in the nation of France rested in the people; this in distinction to sovereignty in Great Britain, which rests in the King. The President pointed out that as a legalistic and constitutional matter it was quite correct to say that there could be no change in the French civil set-up until such time as the people of France were able to exercise their inherent rights in this regard. The President stated that, for example, in his judgment M. Lebrun was still the President of France regardless of the fall of the French government and that he would remain the President of France until the French people had an opportunity to again exercise their political rights. To the foregoing, General Giraud agreed.
The President stated that the discussion could therefore be narrowed down to two items. First, the establishment of an army by the French to assist in throwing the enemy out of the French protectorates in Africa and out of the French home land, and second, a determination on the part of all concerned that there will be no political discussions until the country has been freed of the enemy. Enlarging on the first point, the President asked General Giraud if, in his judgment it would be possible for French North Africa to raise and support an Army of 400,000 men. To this, General Giraud replied in the negative, stating that while troops were available, equipment and white officers and white non-commissioned officers were not available. The President stated that he had been informed by General Noguès that many French officers and non-commissioned officers were surreptitiously leaving France and crossing the Pyrenees into Spain, and that the problem seemed to be to get them to North Africa. The President stated that Spain had set a very fine precedent in permitting the Roumanian King, Carol, and his mistress, Magda Lupescu, to “escape” into Portugal, from whence it was possible for them to proceed to the Western Hemisphere. In this regard, General Giraud remarked that Spain desperately needed phosphates from North Africa, and an agreement might be concluded whereby for every shipload of phosphates the Spaniards got, North Africa in return would receive a shipload of Army evacuees.
The President then remarked that he felt it would be a very splendid thing if Generals Giraud and de Gaulle could get together and handle the military situation for Africa, and together with a leading civilian, from a “Committee for the Liberation of France.” General Giraud met the suggestion with enthusiasm. He stated that he was very certain [Page 611] that he and General de Gaulle could work out some military arrangement. General Giraud asked if there were any objection to bringing Madagascar, Reunion,1 etc., into the African picture. The President stated that he felt that for the time being, all French territory outside the African continent should be excluded from the agreement. This, the President pointed out, would permit de Gaulle to continue in control of the territory over which he now exercises such control, it would permit Robert, as Vichy representative, to continue in control of the French possessions in the Western Hemisphere, etc., etc. “It just occurs to me that by so doing, a number of untoward situations may be thus avoided.” The President stated that with the inauguration of the “Committee for the Liberation of France,” the French Imperial Council should be disbanded. General Giraud remarked that he was already satisfied with the manner in which M. Boisson was administering Dakar and General Noguès was administering Rabat, but that Algeria represented a different situation; that there was no one at the moment whom he thought capable of administering that area.
The President asked General Giraud as to the Jewish situation in Algeria. This was discussed at some length and the President set forth to General Giraud his views as he had done in this connection to General Noguès.2 General Giraud did not think the Jewish problem an insurmountable one.
General Giraud then asked that he be permitted to express to the President his great admiration for the Atlantic Charter, adding that he felt that pronouncement held great hope for all occupied countries and small countries throughout the world.
General Giraud spoke at length about the continental campaign to crush Germany for once and for all. He stated that in his judgment, on the conclusion of this war, Germany should be occupied. He said that this had also been his conviction at the end of the last war. The President stated that it was well known that both General Foch and General Pershing wanted to occupy Germany, but that this was denied for political considerations, and that the unwisdom of this policy had [Page 612] long ago become apparent to all. General Giraud then dramatically stated that it would be observed that he wore no ribbons or decorations; that he had foresworn wearing them until he could march down Unter Den Linden at the head of the occupational forces of Germany.
At the President’s suggestion, General Giraud then told in detail of his escape from Germany and his subsequent escape from France to North Africa. The details of the General’s escape from Germany are fantastic and could hardly be conceived by a writer of fiction.
At 5:30 p.m., the interview terminated with much cordiality, and General Giraud, General Clark and Mr. Murphy withdrew to proceed to the villa occupied by the Prime Minister.3
- On December 17, 1942, the British Government and the French National Committee (de Gaullist) had concluded an agreement in London regarding the defense of the island of Madagascar and its dependencies and the island of Reunion under the terms of which the representative of the French National Committee assumed authority over Madagascar and Reunion. On January 8, 1943, the Free French High Commissioner arrived in Madagascar and assumed control. For correspondence relative to American policy regarding the British occupation of Madagascar, see Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. ii, pp. 687 ff.↩
- For the record of the Roosevelt–Noguès conversation of January 17, see ante, p. 606.↩
- For an account of the Churchill-Giraud meeting, see Giraud, pp. 91–94.↩