Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1942, Europe, Volume II

740.0011 European War 1939/26849a

The Under Secretary of State (Welles) to President Roosevelt

Washington, December 30, 1942.

My Dear Mr. President: I am sending you herewith the suggested instruction to General Eisenhower and to Murphy, of which I understand you will also wish to send a copy by cable to Mr. Churchill.

The Secretary asked me to let you know that he approves this suggested statement about policy, but feels very strongly indeed that you should simultaneously make a public statement with regard to our policy towards France and particularly with regard to General de Gaulle’s present efforts to obtain complete control over all French territories and activities. He is sending you a suggested draft for such a statement.¹⁸

Believe me

Faithfully yours,

Sumner Welles

[Enclosure]

Suggested Instruction to General Eisenhower and to Mr. Murphy^18a

In view of General Giraud’s recent conversations with you on the subject of the recognition by the United States of French sovereignty in North Africa, and in view of recent statements made by the Fighting French National Committee in London and newspaper articles apparently inspired by the latter relative to the immediate need for the creation of a provisional French government to be installed in North Africa, the President desires that the following statement be sent to you which sets forth the policy of the Government of the United States with regard to the French people and French territory and possessions.

You should be guided by this statement in your conversations with General Giraud as well as in the determination of all questions which have inherent in them political aspects.

The supreme objective of the United States is the defeat of the Axis powers, and in the achievement of that objective, in cooperation with the other United Nations, the Government of the United States desires the cooperation of all elements of French resistance.

It hopes that General de Gaulle and all other elements of French resistance will be willing to cooperate with General Giraud as Commander-in-Chief of the French forces in North Africa in every effective and practicable manner for the attainment of the defeat of Germany and her allies. The Government of the United States believes that satisfactory arrangements of a military character can undoubtedly be made between General Giraud and General de Gaulle for the coordination of such cooperative effort between them and their associates. Such coordination would provide a basis for this Government to work with a unified French command, and would be favored by the United States.

Effective protection of French interests abroad may be worked out as the situation develops.

The Government of the United States will continue the policy it has pursued since June 1940 of dealing, in all French territories, with the French authorities in effective control of such territories actively resisting the Axis. The Government of the United States recognizes the sovereignty of the French people over French territories and, subject solely to the rights legitimately pertaining to its military forces, desires that civil administration by French authorities in North Africa be maintained. The relationship of the United States to such civil administration will remain incidental to its military operation.

The Government of the United States, as one of its war objectives, intends, in cooperation with the other United Nations, to bring about the liberation of France. It will take no step which will in the slightest degree impair the right of the French people to determine with complete freedom their own destinies and to select their own government, once France has been liberated. It considers that the most effective results for all concerned can be attained if the military effort is kept divorced from political considerations. For these reasons, the Government of the United States will not accord recognition to any provisional government of France, no matter how constituted and no matter where constituted, until the French people have themselves been afforded the opportunity freely to select such government.

The Government of the United States therefore believes that until such time has come, its cooperation with the forces of French resistance in North Africa and elsewhere must properly be concentrated along the lines of military and naval endeavor and in the rendering of such relief and economic assistance as may be found desirable and necessary by the French authorities in North Africa and in other French territories.

18. Not found in Department files; statement not issued.
19. A memorandum in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library of January 9, 1943, by Harry L. Hopkins indicates this was not sent, the President believing a telegram he had sent to Prime Minister Churchill had covered the matter.