Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1943, Europe, Volume II

851T.51/28: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Algiers (Wiley)

Washington, July 24, 1943—6 p.m.

1367. For Murphy. Refer BOC airgram 67⁹⁷ and Dakar’s 374, June 20.⁹⁸ The failure of our efforts so far to get the French to adopt and enforce adequate economic warfare controls obliges us to consider what further steps should be taken, and what the nature and character of those steps should be. We feel strongly that some further steps must be taken to get the French themselves to control this important phase of the conduct of our Allied effort against the Axis. If however they themselves are unprepared to cooperate in this matter we must give consideration to filling in the gap with appropriate measures of our own, such as the extension of our blacklists⁹⁹ to French North and West Africa. American and British blacklists, instituted prior to their entry into the war, are still maintained in Allied countries in South America.

Before we make further threats such as that contained in your note of April 20 to Couve de Murville¹ we must decide in advance that continued failure in this matter on the part of the French will be followed by the carrying out of this threat. We would like to have your estimate of whether a further threat will accomplish our purpose and also possible French reaction if we take steps of our own, and if adverse, the extent to which the resentment might be extended to other fields. The British view is that in the absence of a showing that French failure to carry out effective controls results in a real detriment to the war effort, we should not risk arousing French resentment with possible repercussions on issues of much greater importance.

Please telegraph your views and recommendations which we will wish to have even though Couve de Murville should come to Washington as suggested in your 1247, July 10.²

Hull

97. Not found in Department files.
98. Not printed.
99. Reference here is to the Proclaimed List. The original proclamation was made by President Roosevelt on July 17, 1941, and entitled The Proclaimed List of Certain Blocked Nationals; for text, see Department of State Bulletin, July 19, 1941, pp. 41–43. The Proclaimed List was designed to control rigidly the export of specified articles to those persons named on the List, in the interests of maintaining the security of the United States. The List was to be published in the Federal Register with additions and deletions, as circumstances required. For correspondence concerning the List, see Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. vi, pp. 268 ff.; ibid, 1942, vol. v, pp. 280 ff.
1. Note not found in Department files. Maurice Couve de Murville, secretary to General Giraud, was appointed Commissioner of Finance, French Committee of National Liberation, in June 1943.
2. Not printed. Telegram No. 1354, July 31, midnight, from the Consul General at Algiers, sent a lengthy reply to this telegram (No. 1367) for the Secretary of the Treasury from Murphy and Harold Glasser of the Treasury Department, detailed to the staff of Mr. Murphy, discussing the economic warfare program. The most pertinent section concerning application of the Proclaimed List to French North and West Africa reads as follows: “We feel that the establishment of a proclaimed statutory list for this area would not contribute materially at this time to the economic warfare program of the Allies regarded as a whole. The real force of such action would seem to be on the side of making known to the world that we are not satisfied with the controls in this area. In view of the degree of cooperation with French administration in more important fields of activity, such publicity could not accomplish its objective, and while it would antagonize the French it would not likely have any desirable effect on their actions in the field. Any added controls which such a step would give us over communications and transactions would be trivial compared to what the French could do if they were interested in an effective program. The Proclaimed List technique by itself would not be effective …” (740.00112A European War, 1939/34466)