851.00/1–2847: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Caffery) to the Secretary of State
372. Bidault1 told me this morning that the new government is not getting off to a very good start due to the intransigeance of the Communist Ministers who are already fighting the other Ministers at every step. “Unless Moscow changes their directives to the Communist Party here,” he said, “this Government is not going to last very long.”
He then indulged in a violent diatribe against the Communist Party here; how he has always tried to get along with them even having been occasionally criticized as being too conciliatory; how for a long time he believed it would be possible to live alongside of them but he is doubtful about that now. He has become convinced that the Communists are out to eradicate western civilization as we know it from western Europe. He is particularly worried about Billoux in National Defense. Billoux he considers an extremely able, very likable and extremely dangerous Communist militant. His presence in National Defense bodes no good for the French Army (I agree with Bidault about Billoux).
While on the one hand I believe that Bidault was sincere when he was talking to me about the Communists; on the other hand, I am perfectly aware that for reasons of personal ambition he has frequently “compromised” with them in the past and he will do so in the future when it happens to suit his purpose of the moment. In other words: while Bidault’s principles are basically anti-Communist, at the Moscow Conference the Secretary will by no means always be able to count on him; and it is difficult to know in advance when he is going to “compromise” on one of those principles.
- Georges Bidault, French Minister for Foreign Affairs.↩