851R.00/8–1746: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France ( Caffery )

secret
u.s. urgent

4279. Urtels 407411 and Algiers 98 and 99.12 View recent Communist maneuvers North African Arabs and presence Carrier FDR in Med Dept considering requesting Navy Dept have carrier visit Algiers and possibly Bone between Sept. 4 and 17. FDR already scheduled visit Tangier 18th. Casablanca later possibility. Navy Dept not unfavorable principle but desires earliest notice. Cable immediately your views political desirability and recommendation.13

Acheson
  1. Dated August 17, 1946. The text reads in part as follows: “It seems clear that Communist policies reported in Algiers’ 98 and 99 (reference Dept’s 4083, August 14, 4 p.m.) are being carried out in accordance with high strategy orchestrated in case of French colonies in general and in case of French North Africa in particular by Colonial Section of Central Committee of French Communist Party under Soviet influence. While immediate political advantages in present Constituent Assembly and incoming elections are obviously factors favoring the new tactics, these are not the fundamental issues involved. … Essentially, Embassy believes that North African Communists are seeking to use for tactical purposes the nationalist aspirations of native populations as means of weakening French ‘imperialism’.” (851R.00/8–1746)
  2. Concerning telegrams 98 and 99, see footnote 8, p. 58.
  3. Mr. Caffery replied in telegram 4207, August 24, 1946, from Paris, as follows: “I recommend visit carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt to Algiers and Bone (Dept’s 4279, August 22 and 4334, August 23).

    “The Governor of Algeria who arrived here last night recommends this also. He says that in view of recent Communist activities he is extremely apprehensive about the situation in Algiers. He has come here to consult with the govt in regard thereto.” (851R.00/8–2446) Telegram 4334 is not printed.