Evening star., 1943-07-18
INDICATED Diplomacy


In his press conference last Friday
President Roosevelt administered a
wellmerited verbal chastisement to
those numerous and ultravocal
critics who, for the past three years,
have been sniping at the State De-
partment's policy toward France.
The President minced no words.
His remarks were as vigorous as they
were salty. Pointing out that the
departments French policy has been
in accordance with a perfectly we'll
ordered plan dating back several
years and based on all possible infor-
nation, much of it highly conf1den-
tial, Mr.. Roosevelt described as
vicious propaganda" the gamut Of
attacks, involving incorrect and I'M
fair rumors, reports and statements,
which assailed both the department
and the Government as whole.
Unable to refute these accusations
without disclosing matters which
would have been prejudicial to the
national interest and helpful to &C
tual or potential enemies, the depart
ment has kept quiet and taken it
ION the chin" But the events of
recent months, eliminating in the
eminently satisfactory solution of
the Martinique problem, has so OBJ
viously vindicated our diplomacy
toward France that the President
has been able, as the saying goes, to
talk out in meeting"
The Martinique affair certainly af-
forded the President a convincing
text for his more extended observa-
tions. When France collapsed in
June, 1910, signing an armistice with
the Axis that placed it virtually at
the mercy of the conquerors, the
French colonies In the West Indies
were governed by a high commits
sioner with a most undiplomatic
personality. Opinionated, stubborn
and with narrowly professional
viewpoint, Admiral Georges Robert
was about the worst person to handle
the delicate situation in which
Frances Caribbean colonies sud-
denly found themselves. This
prickly individual quickly became a
chronic headache to the State De-
partment in its long-range policy Of
CO. o-ordinating complete system Of
hemisphere defense against possible
Axis aggression. The temptation
must have been great to sweep aside
the exasperating little admiral by
use of our overwhelming physical
force. against which he could have
offered no effective resistance. But
1t was pretty clear that Admiral
Robert was the sort of man who
would have resisted, and gloried in
the heroic" act. The President
pithily points out what would have
happened if we had gone down to
Martinique and Guadeloupe with a
great battle fleet" and landing force.
1t would have made big headlines
and caused unthinking hurrahs in
this country. But "the result would
have been a lot of bloodshed and a
headache in the actual running of
the islands" Mr.. Roosevelt might
have added that it would have pro-
duced unfavorable reactions through
out Latin America and would have
intensified French bitterness at home
against all foreigners, thus aiding
pro-Axis leaders like Laval and
Doriot in their efforts to persuade
their compatriots to real "collabora-
ton" with their conquerors.
All those unfortunate complica-
tions have been avoided by the de-
partment's slow, but ultimately sure,
policy of combined forebearance and
insistence through the medium of
economic pressure that had the ef-
feet, in the long run, of making it
very clear to the people of Marti-
nique, if not to Admiral Robert,
where their best interests lay. The
admiral's voluntary abdication, and
his succession by a new high COM
missioner, pledged to full co-opera-
ton with the United Nations, was
accompanied by the cheers and not
the tears of the populace. And the
coming of the Americans is asso-
ciated with food and relief, not gun
fire and bullets.
Such is the vindication of our
Caribbean policy, with it's obvious
implications on our French policy as
a whole. 1t should give pause to