851R.01/746: Telegram
The Consul General at Algiers (Wiley) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 2—6 p.m.]
1015. For the President and Secretary from Murphy. Last evening I again saw the Prime Minister and Eden. The Prime Minister said that he was disappointed with the lack of results obtained by the first meeting of the French yesterday but still confident that with time they would work out their problems. He still feels that his insistence over the selection of General Georges as a member of the Committee was right and Georges would make a real contribution.
Eden told me that he had not expected to come here and his arrival was due to a sudden telegram from the Prime Minister received by Eden on Sunday.39 He said that he wanted me to know that this had nothing to do with de Gaulle, explaining that he was “fed up with him” and had no desire to see him.
The Prime Minister again warned that de Gaulle was capable of a coup d’etat and asked whether Giraud was taking all necessary police measures. He expressed the belief that de Gaulle might skip off to Brazzaville if he could not have his way in all matters.
While the press yesterday carried the news of the appointments of Georges, Monnet, Massigli, Philip and Catroux to the Executive Committee the latter had not yet been constituted. Yesterday’s meeting was devoted instead to a rambling and acrimonious discussion regarding the retention of civilian officials and officers in the Army, Navy and Air Force leading nowhere.
Macmillan and I saw de Gaulle this morning. His attitude towards us personally was conciliatory and friendly but he expressed great [Page 130] doubt that the unity of organization [could] be established in the light of yesterday’s discussion. He said that he would not tolerate the presence of officials not acceptable to him. The organization which is to be set up here even though it may not be recognized as a government must have the attributions of a government. He said that in the formation of a government, there must be a program.
He made it clear that he did not wish to be caught in the meshes of a mechanism without some understanding of the policy line which the organization would follow. I expressed surprise that there should be a debate of questions which the Committee presumably by a majority vote would decide in an orderly fashion in due course. He brushed this aside and talked at great length about the impossibility of working effectively with old men like General Georges bowed down under the weight of France’s defeat. He demanded Giraud’s promise to remove a number of civilian officials and high ranking Army, Navy and Air officers and according to de Gaulle, Giraud flatly refused to take such action.
At the conclusion of our interview he said to me that he hoped that the American Government would adopt a more understanding attitude toward the Fighting French and not “embarrass and obstruct them” at every turn. I replied that he must have understood at Anfa the sincerity of the President’s effort and desire to facilitate French unity. I suggested that it might be well for him to consider an effort on the part of the Fighting French to better understand the friendly intentions of my Government but that this would not be arrived at if we at every turn were met by suspicion, distrust and even hostility. He said that he understood perfectly that France is dependent upon us for supplies and material but that this was not everything and that perhaps ideals were even more important. I expressed the opinion that if he had been willing to make some concessions at Anfa and entered into the spirit of the effort in this area that undoubtedly many of the things which he would like to see accomplished would long since have been achieved.
Macmillan and I both made it quite clear that in our opinion the French should get on with the constitution of their organization and then approach their problems in a sympathetic spirit of goodwill which alone could make a real contribution to the war effort.
The French will probably meet again today but de Gaulle would give no assurance that he intended to surrender his independence of action. At the same time I do not believe that de Gaulle has any intention of departing. He is convinced of his own ability eventually to prevail.
Sent to Department. Repeated to London. [Murphy.]
- May 30.↩