851.515/210b: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Acting American Representatative to the French Committee of National Liberation at Algiers (Chapin)
1836. For Chapin and Murphy. For your own information. Continuous conversations for the use in France of a supplemental issue of French franc currency by the Allied liberation forces have been held since last December with Monnet, the representative of the French Committee dealing with such questions. The French Committee requested and it was agreed that American and British currency would only be used in case of emergency. Since adequate supplies of French currency could not be obtained from occupied France, it was agreed that a special issue of supplemental French franc currency should be printed prior to military operations. It was also agreed that the currency should be printed under the supervision of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in the United States and the design was accepted by the Committee’s representative. Mendes-France during his recent visit here reviewed the decisions which had been reached. While the representatives of the French Committee who carried on these conversations with the War and Treasury departments were not pleased with the decision that General Eisenhower was to issue this currency, they nevertheless accepted it and the rates of exchange vis-à-vis the pound and the dollar were selected by the French Committee. Under these circumstances the implication contained in the Committee’s note (your 1894 June 8) [Page 706] that it had not been consulted and had no previous knowledge of this matter gives an utterly false impression.
The issuance of the SHAEF Currency Proclamation was delayed in the hope that de Gaulle would at the same time issue a supporting statement. This he refused to do on the ground that he alone as President of the Committee had the right to make such a proclalamation. While SHAEF has not as yet deemed it advisable to make any official statement or give any press release concerning these supplemental francs, it has now posted in the liberated areas a financial proclamation establishing this currency as legal tender.
The Department will take no action on the note delivered to you unless so requested by the Joint Chiefs of Staff who have been given the information in your reference telegram.