125.226/3: Telegram

The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State

515. The Department’s decision to establish a Consulate General at Brazzaville has caused little comment in Vichy and the press of unoccupied France (we hear on orders of the Ministry of Information) has published nothing on this subject. Officials with whom we have spoken seem to take a practical view of this decision and seem to recognize our vital interest in seeing to it that the flow of American supplies to the Near East via Africa is not impeded.

Today’s Paris press, however, develops the theme that this constitutes practically official recognition of the government of de Gaulle91 and is but another form of American blackmail in an attempt to keep France from playing her “proper role in the constitution of a new Europe”.

Leahy
  1. Gen. Charles de Gaulle, President of the National Committee of the Free French at London.