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. 533, and Elliott Roosevelt, pp. 118–119. From these sources, it is not possible to determine whether all of the seven persons listed as present participated in any single conversation. According to the Log, Murphy, Macmillan, and Mack called after dinner to see Hopkins. Churchill and his son appeared later and joined in the task of preparing final texts of the joint message to Stalin and the joint communiqué. Elliott Roosevelt indicates that Murphy and Macmillan contributed to those parts of the communiqué which had to deal with the French political scene. Macmillan, p. 252, recalls that the discussion went on through the night of January 23–24 regarding the de Gaulle-Giraud question, and that he and Murphy finally drafted a “formula” which was approved by Roosevelt and Churchill. According to the Log, Murphy, Macmillan, Mack, Churchill, and his son, did not leave the President’s villa until after 2 a.m. on January 24.
[Page 723]For the draft of the message to Stalin apparently prepared during this meeting, see post, p. 803. For text of the communiqué approved by Roosevelt on January 24, see post, p. 842. For text of the “Suggested Statement” by de Gaulle and Giraud presumably prepared during this meeting, see post, p. 822.