France in Transition

Report Outline
Political Recontruction in France
Political and Social Cleavages in France
Present Position of Political Groups in France

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 had become formally a member of the United Nations and it had been accorded great power status in the arrangements for making and keeping the peace.

De Gaulle's Conferences with Roosevelt and Truman

Conferences of the French leader with President Roosevelt last year resulted in American acceptance of the French Committee of National Liberation, not as the provisional government, but as the de facto civilian authority in liberated areas of France. The conversations relieved the tension that had been growing since the American invasion of North Africa, but no solid basis of personal understanding was reached between Roosevelt and De Gaulle.