Quasi-Quisling

In time of war it is necessary to think in terms of military expediency, rather than of the likes and dislikes of the people. The appointment of Admiral Darlan as Resident-General in North Africa has not satisfied the people of the Allied Nations, but it has proved of invaluable aid to the United States in its military campaign there. If the French Navy and North African Army had not abstained from organized resistance, the Allied troops might still be stalled at Algiers. As it is, we have been able to take almost all of French North Africa at a negligible cost.

Admiral Darlan is a member of that class euphemistically termed "opportunists." It is true that during the period between the wars he exhibited no tendencies toward Fascism. He did, however, conceive a definite dislike for the British after the Naval Disarmament Conference in Washington in 1921, when the French Navy was limited to approximately one-third the size of the British. With the fall of France in 1940, he made a complete about-face, and became one of the outstanding collaborationists in the Vichy regime. The attack by the British on the French fleet at Oran solidified his dislike of England, and he became a distinct Anglophobe. His capture in Algiers by the American forces put him in an uncomfortable position, but he squirmed out of it with another rat-like twist by promising to cooperate with the Allies.

It is impossible to depend on the loyalty of Admiral Darlan in the present situation, but he must be retained in a responsible position so long as the course of military events warrants it. Once the Allies have taken complete and absolute control of North Africa, his term of usefulness is at an end, and he must be discarded in favor of a government acceptable both to the Allies and to the people of France. The State Department disregarded the feelings of the peoples of the United Nations by maintaining relations with Vichy, but it has since become evident that it was both a wise and necessary move. Nevertheless, relations were terminated as soon as military expediency demanded it, and the same course should be followed with regard to Darlan. This is an example of Machiavellian politics, and Washington must take care that it does not backfire. Darlan is valuable to the Allies because he controls the French Navy and is the official representative of Vichy France in Africa. If he should divert the prestige given him by the Allies into channels where it might gain him the support of the French people, he could become dangerous. Let him haul the Allied bandwagon, but keep a firm check on the reins.