Presidential Papers, Doc#722 To Charles AndrÉ Joseph Marie de Gaulle, 2 June 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Doc #723

Document #722; June 2, 1958
To Charles AndrÉ Joseph Marie de Gaulle
Series: EM, AWF, International Series: de Gaulle
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace
Part V: Forcing the President's Hand; June 1958 to October 1958
Chapter 11: "Take time by the forelock"

 

Dear Mr. President: I wish to extend to you my personal greetings and good wishes on this occasion of your assuming leadership of the French nation.1

You may be confident that I retain vividly in mind the important and friendly association which we had during the critical days of the Second World War.2

You know of my deep and lasting affection for France. You may be sure that you have my sympathetic understanding in the great tasks which you are about to undertake.3

Please accept, Mr. President, my best wishes for the success of your mission.4 Sincerely

1 On May 14 French colonists in Algeria had staged an insurrection and demanded that Charles de Gaulle be brought to power; the French Army was later reported to have supported the insurrection in both Algeria and Corsica. De Gaulle offered to form a new government if the National Assembly agreed to adjourn for four months and to give him full power to rule by decree for six months as well as a mandate to write a new constitution (State, Foreign Relations, 1958 - 1960, vol. VII, pt. 2, Western Europe, pp. 8 - 24; see also NSC meeting minutes, May 23, 29, 1958, AWF/NSC; and no. 451.

Shortly before de Gaulle came to power Secretary Dulles had given Eisenhower a draft of this letter. Eisenhower thought the draft was appropriate and said he "would hold it on a contingency basis" (Memorandum of Conversation, May 26, 1958, Dulles Papers, White House Memoranda Series; see also Herter to Eisenhower, May 31, 1958, Dulles/Herter Papers, Chronological Correspondence Series).

2 On Eisenhower's relations with de Gaulle see Chandler, War Years, vols. I - IV; see also Frank Castiglioga, France and the United States: The Cold Alliance Since World War II (New York, 1992), pp. 121, 124 - 25, 127.

3 After reading an editorial in Life citing the problems posed by de Gaulle's return to power, Eisenhower had taken a more optimistic position. He told Ann Whitman that he had had many "satisfying and revealing" conversations with the French leader, and that some of the constructive steps de Gaulle had taken in North Africa as early as 1943 led Eisenhower to believe that he could "stabilize relations between France and Algeria, to say nothing of Tunisia and Morocco" (Whitman to Jackson, June 5, 1958, AWF/A; see also McCrum to Whitman, June 6, 1958; and "De Gaulle: The Risks, the Rewards," Life, June 2, 1958).

4 For developments see no. 765.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Charles AndrÉ Joseph Marie de Gaulle, 2 June 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 722. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/second-term/documents/722.cfm

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