851L.01/12: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Leahy)
151. Your 331 March 3, 9:00 p.m. In a conversation in the Department on January 23,76 the French Ambassador was urged to inform his Government that from reports reaching here the activities of Admiral Decoux were being interpreted as “in conjunction with or under Japanese duress”, and that the situation thereby created must influence the considerations of policy of this Government.
It was obvious, therefore, that any attempt to cooperate for the defense of French possessions in the Pacific area must be with the local authorities who were also resisting Japanese aggression. Coincidentally, it was, in the opinion of this Government, useless to discuss with the Government at Vichy military measures of protection as to areas under which that Government had no control.
Accordingly, on February 28, the American Consul at Nouméa was authorized to make an official statement77 as to the attitude of this Government, which was transmitted in the “Radio Bulletin” of March 2.
Although the entire text should be clearly understood by the Vichy Government, its attention should be called specifically to the first paragraph defining the policy of this Government and particularly to the sentence reading “Mindful of its traditional friendship [Page 694] for France, this Government deeply sympathizes not only with the desire of the French people to maintain their territories intact but with the efforts of the French people to continue to resist the forces of aggression”.