When Pierre Laval took the reins of Vichyfrance, many U.S. citizens thought that U.S.-Vichy relations were all over but the shooting. Not so the State Department. U.S. diplomats thought up a new device to put Laval on the spot. One morning last week Rear Admiral John H. Hoover and State Department's Samuel Reber landed at Vichy's Caribbean island of Martinique, went straight to the offices of bearded Admiral Georges Robert, High Commissioner of Vichy's possessions in the area (Martinique, sister island Guadeloupe and French Guiana).
The Americans were there to get guarantees...