Editorial Note
No official record of the substance of this meeting has been found. The information set forth above is derived from the Log, ante, p. 526, which also records that the meeting lasted until 2:40 p.m. The account of the luncheon by Elliott Roosevelt (pp. 92–93) indicates that de Gaulle’s continued absence from Casablanca was one of the subjects touched upon. It is likely that by the time of this meeting, the President [Page 627] had already been apprised of de Gaulle’s refusal to attend the Conference, as reported in Eden’s telegram of January 17 to Churchill, post., p. 814.
Macmillan (pp. 246–247) recalls several exchanges of messages between Eden and Churchill on January 16, 17, and 18, regarding Eden’s discussions with de Gaulle about the invitation to Casablanca. According to Macmillan’s account, de Gaulle’s rejection of the first invitation was discussed by Roosevelt, Churchill, Murphy, and himself at lunch and throughout the afternoon. According to Macmillan and Sir Llewellyn Woodward, British Foreign Policy in the Second World War (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1962), p. 217, Macmillan proposed at this time that the invitation to de Gaulle to come to Casablanca should come from Giraud, but it was decided instead that Churchill send another message to de Gaulle. For the text of Churchill’s second invitation to de Gaulle as originally sent from Casablanca, see Churchill, Hinge of Fate, pp. 680–681; for text of the message as finally delivered to de Gaulle by Eden on January 19, see de Gaulle, Documents, pp. 127–128. There is no indication in the available records and accounts of Roosevelt’s role in the preparation of this second invitation. It may have been at this time, however, that Roosevelt cabled Eden: “I have got the bridegroom, where is the bride?” (The Memoirs of Anthony Eden, Earl of Avon, The Reckoning (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1965), p. 421.)