890D.01/6–545: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Caffery)
2543. Beirut’s 178 June 514 repeated to you as 67. In view of General de Gaulle’s order to French forces in the Levant to cease fire and the hope which he expressed in his message of June 1 to President Truman15 that a peaceful solution of the situation could now be arrived at, we are loath to believe that there can be any truth in the report from Beirut that the Jeanne d’Arc has sailed from Oran with French reinforcements for the Levant.
[Page 1137]In view of the seriousness of the situation, however, it is desired that you immediately bring the report to the attention of the French authorities and, while expressing skepticism regarding its truth, request a confirmation or denial.16
Should the report be confirmed you should urge in the strongest possible manner that the ship not proceed to its destination. You may point out that for the French to send reinforcements at this critical moment would have the most provocative effect and might lead to the most serious consequences.
- Not printed.↩
- See letter of June 4 from the French Ambassador to President Truman, p. 1135.↩
- In telegram 3337, June 6, 1945, 2 p.m., the Ambassador in France reported information from the French Foreign Minister that the French troops on the Jeanne d’Arc had been disembarked at Bizerte (890D.01/6–645).↩