France in Transition

Archive Report

Political Recontruction in France

Progress in First Year of Liberation

France was a defeated country in enemy occupation when General Charles de Gaulle arrived in Washington, July 6, 1944, for negotiations with President Roosevelt. Allied troops had landed on the Normandy beaches only a month before. The Nazis still held all of France except the Cherbourg peninsula. De Gaulle had paid a brief visit to Normandy, but his headquarters remained at Algiers. His provisional government had received full recognition as the government of France from only a few small countries.

When De Gaulle came to the United States in August of this year for conferences with President Truman, France was again a free nation. The provisional government had established its authority at home and abroad. The country ...

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