U.S. At War: De Gaulle? No

The question was familiar: Would Franklin Roosevelt, in spite of his personal distaste for General Charles de Gaulle, finally recognize the French Committee of National Liberation as the “provisional” government of France? Last week the answer was still no.

For more than a month, a “plan” to recognize the French Committee lay on the President’s desk while he thumbed and mulled it over. Then, pointedly snubbing De Gaulle once again, the President “revised” the plan by submitting a brand new one to London and the State Department. The rumored Roosevelt suggestion: When the U.S. and Britain invade France, let General Eisenhower make expedient little side deals with whatever French group or groups happen to be most handy. The underground organizations which have risked their necks for Gaullism may or may not be called upon to help put France back on her feet after the Germans are driven out. That will be up to the military to decide.

To Allied military men, who have had to fight in Africa and Italy with one hand and politick with the other, the prospect of more behind-the-lines chaos sounded dismal. To London and Algiers, who reacted quickly through long-faced cables from news correspondents, it sounded like fresh evidence of a hazy U.S. foreign policy. The French in Algiers were especially gloomy in the belief that the U.S. wants to do business with Vichy again.