Citizens of London by Lynne Olson

Author:Lynne Olson [Olson, Lynne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-58836-982-6
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2010-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

ROOSEVELT’S ADAMANT opposition to de Gaulle and his movement was a source of frustration not only for the British but also for U.S. officials and military leaders in London and Algiers. It certainly made life more difficult for Eisenhower, who, through painful experience, now knew considerably more about the tangled complexity of European and North African politics than did FDR. In his memoirs, Eisenhower noted that Roosevelt referred to French North Africa and its inhabitants “in terms of orders, instructions, and compulsion…. He continued, perhaps subconsciously, to discuss local problems from the viewpoint of a conqueror. It would have been so much easier for us if we could have done the same!”

Perhaps the most outspoken American critic of Roosevelt’s policy was Wallace Carroll, London’s Office of War Information director, who claimed that the president’s directives had resulted in a serious propaganda and political defeat for the United States. “It seemed,” Carroll observed, “that we were showing a kind of arrogance, an attitude that denied the right of smaller and less fortunate nations to question American actions.” David Bruce agreed, telling Gil Winant that preparations for the invasion of France, which were heavily dependent on information from the French underground, might be put in jeopardy if the man regarded by the resistance as its leader was shunned by the Americans and British.

For their part, OSS operatives, who worked closely with resistance members in the captive countries of Europe and knew what risks they were taking to help the Allies, had no patience for what they saw as Machiavellian political power games that “were being played at the expense of smaller nations and powerless people.” Like a number of other American officials in London, they felt estranged from their superiors in Washington, who, safe and remote from the war’s dangers, moved people around like pawns on a chessboard and issued orders without seeming to understand or care what their effects would be.

Gil Winant shared those concerns. While remaining “at all times the devoted servitor of the President,” the ambassador also “saw the cost to the United States of its emotional attitude toward de Gaulle,” Wallace Carroll noted. Even though the United States had no official ties with the Fighting French, Winant established a close informal relationship with de Gaulle, who, putting aside his waspishness for a moment, later praised the American as “a diplomat of great intelligence and feeling” and a “splendid ambassador.” Winant played peacemaker on several occasions when disputes arose between the general and American officials in London and North Africa. He was well aware that, like it or not, de Gaulle would have a major role to play in liberated France.

In one of his many conversations with Carroll on the subject, Winant asked rhetorically: “Who is it who is saving our flyers when they bail out over France?” As he paced back and forth in his office, he answered his own question: “It’s the people who recognize de Gaulle as their leader. Who gives us most of the intelligence

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