Charles de GAULLE despairing of the victory of the communists in 1946.

Charles de GAULLE (1890.1970)

Autograph letter signed to Yvonne Salmon.

Two pages in-8° on paper with its letterhead. Autograph envelope.

[Colombey] November 24, 1946.

“If they had followed me, they would be the victors today […] common sense would have triumphed! Now there is darkness! »

Very interesting letter relating to the French political excitement of the year 1946. A few months earlier, in January, the General had submitted his resignation as President of the Provisional Government to the President of the National Assembly, Félix Gouin. The promulgation of the new constitution of the Fourth ^Republic on October 27, 1946, as well as the legislative elections of November 10, marked by the large victory of the Communist Party, were effective, to the great dismay of Charles de Gaulle.

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“Dear Mademoiselle, Be sure that I have nothing to object to your present activity. I only believe that your friends have made a serious mistake in the constitutional matter. If they had followed me, they would be the victors today and, what is better still, common sense would have triumphed! Now there is darkness!

This letter is only for you. May she bring you, Mademoiselle, with my respectful homage, the very pleasant memories of my wife! C. de Gaulle. »

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We attach the draft of Yvonne Salmon's letter sent to General de Gaulle on November 8, 1946, to which the latter responds here.

“My General, As a follow-up to my letter of October 31 and after the publication of the letter you addressed to Mr. Vendroux, I believe I must write to you before Sunday's election. It was with great difficulty that for two months I took part in the political struggle and often I thought of going into solitude and abstaining. I didn't think I was authorized to do so; so I looked for what to do. I studied the ranks in which one could put oneself and I found that the MRP alone offered possibilities. This while retaining my right to vote no to the constitution whose faults you had clearly shown .

The vast majority of MRP voters are loyal to you; they still love freedom and will demand a more democratic attitude at the next party congress; it is to encourage them, to help them, that I remained among them. Having no other path to follow, no longer being able to do anything in propaganda abroad, because I was ousted from the Council of the Alliance Française for common subterfuges today, I think that I can still be useful by maintaining hope in certain humble voters who do not know how to act; but I am naturally not satisfied with the events.

I hope you will excuse me for this explanation which I thought necessary; and above all allow me to tell you that if you would like to assign me an activity where I can be useful and where I can see clearly in this distress which grips our poor country, I am absolutely at your disposal. Please believe, General, in my complete dedication. Yvonne Salmon. »

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Yvonne Salmon (1885-1965), army nurse during the Great War, then professor of French civilization at the University of Reading, offered her services to General de Gaulle the day after the appeal of June 18. An active propagandist for Free France through the Alliance Française, she gave countless conferences and published in 1943, in London, the first biography of the leader of Free France entitled "General de Gaulle", which was republished in Algiers in 1945 and in Paris in 2010. After the war, she remained a convinced Gaullist.