Editorial Note
No official record of this meeting, made at the time, has been found. The account of this meeting given by Murphy to the Historical Office is essentially the same as that appearing in Murphy, p. 174, and in a letter written by Murphy on May 2, 1951, and quoted in part in Arthur Lay ton Funk, Charles de Gaulle: The Crucial Tears, 1943–1944 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959), p. 74. Murphy [Page 694] and de Gaulle conversed for half an hour prior to the latter’s meeting with Roosevelt. Murphy attempted to explain Roosevelt’s policy toward France and to convince de Gaulle of the necessity of his reaching an understanding with Giraud. After hearing Murphy’s exposition, de Gaulle concluded the meeting by explaining that the French National Committee in London had not empowered him to make any “binding decisions” while attending the Conference (Murphy, p. 174).