Word: darlan
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Eisenhower also takes the blame for his obvious errors in the Tunisian campaign, but makes out a good case for his temporary collaboration with Darlan. Not only was he bound by political directives that the French in North Africa were to be treated as neutrals, not enemies, but Robert Murphy's intelligence for the U.S. State Department on General Henri Giraud proved faulty. A great deal of effort went into prying Giraud out of Vichy territory, only to have him insist on having Ike's job or none at all. Finally Giraud changed his mind...
...when the Allies got to North Africa they found that none of the French paid any attention to Giraud; the Vichy commanders on the scene idolized Pétain, and ultimately agreed to take orders only from Darlan, who by lucky chance was in Algiers at the time, visiting his paralyzed son. It was not Ike's doing that De Gaulle in London wasn't even told of the North African invasion. The British blamed a leak in De Gaulle's staff for their earlier failure to capture Dakar. Ike is still cool toward De Gaulle...
Single Yardstick. Despite his dissatisfaction with the North African invasion, Stimson supported it once it was launched. When Wendell Willkie was preparing to go on the air to attack the Eisenhower-Darlan agreement, Stimson grabbed for his telephone. "I told him flatly that if he criticized the Darlan agreement at this juncture he would run the risk of jeopardizing the success of the United States Army in North Africa and would be rendering its task very much more difficult...
Among others with whom Lanny is on good terms: Pierre Laval, Albert Einstein (they play Mozart sonatas for piano and violin), Winston Churchill, Harry Hopkins ("May I call you Lanny?" says Harry), OSS Chief William J. Donovan, Admiral Darlan. Lanny is also, believe it or not, friendly with Hermann Goring and Adolf Hitler...
...Willing Men. The point missed by most critics, says Langer, is that Vichy was not simply Pétain, Darlan and Laval. They got the headlines, but "at all times [were] more than counterbalanced" by other Vichyites, mostly nameless, who were loyal Frenchmen at the least, and at most, zealously pro-Ally. Example: as early as spring 1941 the Deuxième Bureau (intelligence service) secretly agreed to send military reports to the U.S. Army in Washington, right under Vichy Ambassador Henry-Haye's nose. According to U.S. diplomats at Vichy, French officialdom was 85% on the Allied side...