611.5131/929: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Edge) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 15—9:15 a.m.]
722. Your 432, December 10, 11 a.m.; and 435, December 13, noon.77 Complying with your request in telegram 432, with no government here and no durable administration in prospect for some time to come, it is obvious the negotiations for the commercial treaty must remain in a state of status quo. As a consequence I have no recommendation to make at this time though it is quite possible that the shock developing here by reaction through a realization of France’s self-imposed isolation may make the French authorities more amenable to agreement in the future.
While perhaps no point is gained by crying over spilt milk, nevertheless, as a matter of record, I cannot refrain from expressing my personal regret that the Department found it necessary in reply to my 713, December 13, 11 a.m.78 to maintain the negative policy reflected in your 435.
There are manifold indications here that if Herriot could only have received a little informal cooperation from us without the slightest embarrassing commitment on our part his Government might have been saved and the United States paid today’s installment.