Editorial Note
No United States record of this conversation has been found. The information set forth above regarding the meeting is derived from Pickersgill, pp. 322–323, which reproduces excerpts from Mackenzie King’s diary notes on the discussion. Mackenzie King’s account indicates that Hull felt that Roosevelt and Churchill had not understood his attitude on St. Pierre–Miquelon as expressed in the discussion the previous afternoon. Hull asked Mackenzie King what he thought should be done about the problem. Mackenzie King’s diary recorded the remainder of this discussion as follows:
“I said I thought something on the lines of what had been understood between the President, Mr. Churchill, and ourselves. He then said he thought he had better send for the French Minister, Henry-Haye, and propose to him an arrangement to have the wireless supervised by Canada and by perhaps someone associated with their [U.S.] Consul. He spoke about a Commission. I said to him I did not think ‘Commission’ was the right term; all that was needed were technical experts who would be protected in their duties. He said they had a Consul at St. Pierre; that they might attach an expert to the Consul. I said I thought it would be all to the good to have Americans and Canadians do the supervision of the wireless. He then said that perhaps later they could get another Governor. He was rather for reinstating the present Governor. I said to him at once I thought that would be impossible.
[Page 112]“At that point, the press were waiting for a talk with him. He asked me if I would like to go with him. I said: ‘No,’ I would wait. When he came back, I said I had been thinking over the Governor part and felt the last state would be worse than the first, if he were allowed to remain. That he, Mr. Hull, must recall that 90 per cent of the vote had been for Free France, and that the Governor had said some word of defiance to the people when he went aboard Muselier’s ship; that if he returned as Governor, there would probably be civil strife between him and the people.… He asked me if I thought Mr. Churchill would back him up in having de Gaulle withdraw. I said that I was sure he would. He had made that quite clear yesterday, but that it would have to be accompanied by some action such as the removal of the Governor allowing the people to control affairs themselves. I was almost an hour with Mr. Hull.”