851A.01/72
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
The British Ambassador called at his request. He informed me that he had discouraging news from his Foreign Office about the de Gaulle seizure of the St. Pierre and Miquelon islands, in which it was reported that public sentiment was gaining rapidly in favor of that act not only in the United States but in Britain and other places and that his Government was very fearful of injuring the de Gaulle movement in Africa, especially, if they should resist in any way the desire of de Gaulle to hold on to the islands. I reminded him that in the first place it violated the broad basic doctrine of intervention by force in other countries on the part of an invader—a very broad doctrine that Britain, the United States and other countries have used to denounce Hitler and the Japanese for violating by invading and seizing territory that did not belong to them and destroying its sovereignty as well as its territorial integrity under well-established law; that the de Gaulle group is not recognized by virtually any country in this Western Hemisphere and therefore it is not a controversy between fellow Frenchmen so far as this hemisphere is concerned; that all of the twenty-one American nations have a definite agreement entered into at Havana34 in regard to European colonies and possessions in this hemisphere. This agreement rests on the non-use of force, and that to let the de Gaulle occupation continue unchallenged would mean that de Gaulle would probably undertake to capture other French [Page 563] colonies, such as Guadeloupe and French Guiana and that furthermore Admiral Robert, the Governor of all French colonies in this hemisphere would probably take his large cruiser and go up and relieve St. Pierre and Miquelon, et cetera, et cetera, and, finally, the whole basis of the good neighbor policy as built up in the American republics during the past nine years would be repudiated by the United States with the unthinkable repercussions of injury that would occur through Latin America just at the present pivotal stage of a conference of all foreign ministers at Rio de Janeiro.35
I said that, furthermore, without going into details, it would be necessary for this Government at once to withdraw Admiral Leahy and all other Americans, including Murphy, who have been working in French North Africa with such splendid results, and that these would all be booted out by the Vichy Government, if they were not previously withdrawn. The result would be the loss to Britain and the United States of much valuable information that these Americans have obtained by keeping in touch with the Vichy Government and, with its permission, with the north African and related situations. I said it is unthinkable to me and to my Government that all of these benefits to the British and American Governments should be junked and thrown overboard in order to gratify the desire of the de Gaulle leaders, who, in open violation of their pledge to the contrary, suddenly seized and occupied St. Pierre and Miquelon by force, thereby inflicting on Great Britain and the United States unimaginable injury to their military defensive situation in this hemisphere and in French Africa. I said that it could be made perfectly plain to de Gaulle that he is inflicting such injury without any cause whatsoever; that if the Vichy French should offer a suitable agreement to Great Britain, Canada and the United States to safeguard the wireless station against the possibility of its use to the detriment of the three Allied nations, it would be entirely consistent for de Gaulle to be thanked for his contribution in bringing this about, which it might be said was his chief purpose in occupying the islands, notwithstanding other minor purposes he might also have had in mind, and that he is now free to vacate these islands and move on to some other act of service to the Allied governments. There would be no further question of face-saving arising. The Ambassador said he well understood the situation and that he would undertake to get it more fully and accurately before his Government.