851.01/460
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
The British Ambassador called at his request.
He made some reference to the Free French problem and added that he thought that General de Gaulle could well put out a statement to the effect that he was engaged in the prosecution of the war; that at the end of the war he would become merely an individual citizen of France, and that he would not in the meantime be engaged in building up a political organization for the post-war government of France.
I expressed interest in the Ambassador’s suggestion and emphasized again that this Government is only interested in carrying on the war from a military standpoint and that we do not propose to take up with General de Gaulle any phase of the political situation in France either now or after the war; that in point of fact, I have no information that de Gaulle has a political organization for the purpose of governing France during the war; that his organization is purely military with such further functions as are necessary to deal with the political angle in local situations as they arise in New Caledonia, Central Africa and other areas which have been occupied for military reasons during the war, or where, as in the case of Central Africa, the country was occupied and controlled by the Free French since the Armistice. I added that any incidental political control over these widely separated areas, especially when the military objectives of the allied nations are primarily served by the British and the Americans, is a different matter compared to political rule over France herself. The Ambassador seemed to take notice of this viewpoint.