Evening star., 1943-08-31
State Department Criticized
For Attitude Toward French Committe


TO the Editorlof The Star: ~antaa,rt zt,l d
The so-called recognition" Of the
French Committee OF Liberation by the
United States, England and Canada will
satisfy no one. 1t should leave a bitter
taste in the mouth OF every American.
It proclaims to the world the awful
mediocrity Of the brains In our State
Department. 1t is most probably COM
promise-result of very heated discussions
in Quebec, where the English, perhaps,
wanted to give full and unqualified rec
ognition, while our State Department
stood pat on a safe" policy of puny
action.
The French people on the continent of
Europe look with longing and hope to
the committee. To them, deprived of
national existence, the committee is q
guiding star Of their destiny They are
not concerned with the politics of the
committee. To this they will attend
later. For them, the committee is q
symbol Of liberation. They believed in
the promise Of Roosevelt and Churchill
that they will be taken into the Allied
family as an equal, despite their defeat.
Their entire spirit of resistance Is
founded on the principle Of dignity. But
our State Department knows nothing
Of that. 1t delivered France resound-
ing slap in the face. 1t Inundated a
great nation and broke its solemn pledge.
Vichy and Hitler may we'll chuckle with
glee at this affront The collaboration
lists will tell the French people: "You
see, your friends don't think much of
you and OF your Committee of Liberia
ton" This recognition" will engender
bitterness of French spirit which the
SNUG mediocrities of our State Depart
ment have not the capacity to compre-
hend. French people will justly think:
Our friends humiliate us just as much
as the hated Boche does"
This recognition" is a continuation of
the pro-Giraudist policy with its faint
aroma Of fascism, which policy the State
Department pursued after North Africa
was invaded. Giraud is more pliable and
safer" than De Gaulle. He can take
the boot" with better grace than
De Gaulle.
The State Department is mortally
afraid of doing anything courageous
(witness our muddling policy with fas-
cist Argentina. During the entire
troubled decade 1933-1943, our State De-
partment short -sightedly pursued a pol
icy of so-called "nonintervention" in the
butchery of Spain and created condi-
ton wherein We have to keep sizable
Army on the border Of Spanish Morocco.
For almost an entire decade, we per-
mitted Japan to sink our boats, slap our
citizens around and chase our business
from the Orient. The State Department
substituted self-righteousness for courage
and dignity and called 1t diplomacy"
And we are still doing just that The
State Department had not the courage
to tell the French committee: You rep
resent no one at all and we will not
recognize YOU Neither had it the
courage to tell the committee: you are
the only organized body of Frenchmen
who represent France. We will recog-
nize and deal with you, trusting in the
wisdom of France to regulate and con-
troll her affairs in the future"
Compare the injustice of recognizing
the government-in-exile of Poland,
which controls not a foot of Polish soil,
which hardly even represents the Polish
people, which commands no respect from
its nearest neighbors, and the refusal to