Office of the Historian

Memorandum by Rear Admiral Wilson Brown, Naval Aide to President Roosevelt 82

Washington, July 3, 1943.

Admiral Leahy83 requests that you submit at your earliest convenience, but not later than 11:00 a.m., Sunday, July 4, your comments with reference to the attached message from the President.

Admiral Leahy further requests that these comments be addressed to him at the Map Room, The White House.

[Page 169]

A copy of State Department message No. 1195 from Mr. Murphy in Algiers is attached.84 Your attention is invited to the fact that this message No. 1195 is not a paraphrased copy, and so it is requested that you return this copy, without distribution, with your above mentioned comments.85

Wilson Brown
[Enclosure]

I suggest sending Eisenhower for himself and Murphy the following,86 in view of the State Department dispatch from Murphy, Number 1195, from Algiers:87

“By virtue of the general approval in North Africa for appointment of Pierre Cournarie as Governor of West Africa, I concur in this appointment. Due to the unusual military importance of Dakar to the defense of the American hemisphere and the control of the South Atlantic, however, the following point should be made absolutely clear to the French Committee: If at any time during the rest of the war the United States requests a change in Cournarie’s command, such a change will be effected by putting in his place a man totally agreeable to the United States. The fact that this proposed measure is for military reasons in the conduct of the war should be emphasized.”

Roosevelt
  1. Copy obtained from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N.Y. A copy in the Department of State files is identical except for omission of the third paragraph (851T.001/38). This memorandum was addressed to the Secretary of State: Gen. George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army; Adm. Ernest J. King, Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, and Chief of Naval Operations; and Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Commanding General, Army Air Forces.↩
  2. Adm. William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy.↩

  3. Dated June 30, 7 p.m.; not printed. In this telegram, Mr. Murphy gave the following summary of conversations with French officials regarding French West Africa: “I have made quite clear in all my conversations the President’s concern regarding the security of this area and his determination that there should be no development here endangering Allies’ security and military operations.

    “Should the Committee approve Cournarie’s appointment I believe we should not offer objection at this time. Should there be later any indication of difficulty we could then insist on his immediate removal.” (851.01/2366)

    ↩
  4. No reply from the Secretary of State has been found either in the Department files or in the Roosevelt Library. A handwritten note on this copy, from Admiral King to Admiral Leahy, indicated that the former had no objection to the attached draft message for General Eisenhower and Mr. Murphy.↩
  5. A handwritten note on this copy by Admiral Leahy stated that President Roosevelt’s approval was received at 2:45 p.m. on July 4, 1943. The message was then sent to Algiers via military channels on the same date.↩
  6. See footnote 84, above.↩