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    "label": "Memorandum of Conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Marshal Joseph Stalin",
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    "title": "Memorandum of Conference with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Marshal Joseph Stalin",
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 28,
            "logicalDate": "1943-11-28",
            "month": 11,
            "year": 1943
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    "seq": 3,
    "pageIndex": 0,
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    "ocrText": "THE PRESIDENT said that he had had an interesting conversation\nwith Chiang-Kai-Shek in Gairo, on the general subject of China.\nMARSHAL STALIN remacked that the Chinese have fought very badly\nbut, in his opinion, it was the fault of the Chinese leaders.\nTHE PRESIDENT informed Marshal Stalin that we were now supplying\nand training 30 Chinese divisions for operations in Southern China and\nwere proposing to continue the same process for 30 additional divisions,\nHe added that there was a new prospect of an offensive operation through\nNorth Burna to link up with China in Southern Yunan and that these\noperations would be under the command of Lord Louis Mountbatten.\nMARSHAL STALIN then inquired as to the situation in the Lebanon.\nTHE PRESIDENT gave a brief description of the background and events\nleading up to the recent clashes and in reply to Marshal Stalin's\nquestion said that it had been entirely due to the attitude of the\nFrench Committee and General De Gaulle.\nMARSHAL STALIN said he did not know General De Gaulle personally,\nbut frankly, in his opinion, he was very unreal in his political activi-\nties. He explained that General De Gaulle represented the soul of sym-\npathetic France, whereas, the real physical France engaged under Petain\nin helping our common enemy Germany, by making available French ports,\nmaterials, machines, etc., for the German war effort. He said the\ntrouble with De Gaulle was that this movement had no communication with\nthe physical France, which, in his opinion, should be punished for its\nattitude during this war. De Gaulle acts as though he were the head of\na great state, whereas, in fact, it actually commands little power.\nTHE PRESIDENT agreed and said that in the future, no Frenchman over\n40, and particularly no Frenchman who had ever taken part in the present\nFrench Government, should be allowed to return to position in the future.\nHe said that General Giraud was a good old military type, but with no\nadministrative or political sense, whatsoever. He added that there were\napproximately 11 French divisions, partly composed of Algerians and other\nNorth Africans, in training in North Africa.\nMARSHAL STALIN expatiated at length on the French ruling classes and\nhe said, in his opinion, they should not be entitled to share in any of\nthe benefits of the peace, in view of their past record of collaboration\nwith Germany.\nTHE PRESIDENT said that Mr. Churchill was of the opinion that France\nwould be very quickly reconstructed as a strong nation, but he did not\npersonally share this view since he felt that many years of honest labor\nwould be necessary before France would be re-established. He said the\nfirst necessity for the French, not only for the Government but the\npeople as well, was to become honest citizens.\nMARSHAL STALIN agreed and went on to say that he did not propose to\nhave the Allies shed blood to restore Indo-China, for example, to the\nold French colonial rule. He said that the recent events in the Lebanon\nmade public service the first step toward the independence of people"
}