851.01/2830
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State
| Participants: | Secretary of State Hull |
| General M. E. Bethouart | |
| Mr. Philippe Baudet |
General Bethouart and Mr. Baudet called at my request. I said to them that I had no business to take up at the moment but that I merely requested them to call in order that we might felicitate each other over the recent recognitions of the French Committee of National Liberation. I stated that I felt everything is propitious for greater teamwork and more effective cooperation than heretofore and that this gives me and my associates in this country special satisfaction. I said the one test will be the increasing unity of the French Committee behind the French people and the Allied cause and that with a steady increase of such unity there would be corresponding cooperation on the part of this and, I am sure, other governments. They expressed their pleasure in return and indicated their belief that relations would certainly improve.
One of them inquired about the money of the French Government that is now frozen. I replied that that would be kept in trust for the French Government when it is restored in proper form. I said that any question about small amounts for necessary expenses was a matter that could and would be taken up from time to time in the light of the particular facts in each instance.