During wartime, General de Gaulle quoted Georges Clemenceau.
« When you only have one hand, you must keep it clean. Clemenceau. »
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« When you only have one hand, you must keep it clean. Clemenceau. »
Sold
Charles de Gaulle (1890.1970)
Signed letter to Yvonne Salmon.
A quarto page on paper with his Carlton Gardens letterhead.
London. November 21, 1942.
Autographed postscript.
« When you only have one hand, you have to keep it clean. »
The General thanks his ally for her glowing letter following his speech in support of the Allies delivered on the BBC on the evening of the landing in North Africa, November 8, 1942. Kept out of this military operation by the British and the Americans, De Gaulle quotes Clemenceau in order to demonstrate his absolute quest for victory.
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"Mademoiselle, I received your letter of November 8th. I thank you for your loyalty and congratulate you on your tireless devotion. Please accept, Mademoiselle, the expression of my best regards. C. de Gaulle."
In the lower margin, de Gaulle notes this quote from Georges Clemenceau:
« When you only have one hand, you must keep it clean. Clemenceau. »
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We are attaching the draft of Y. Salmon's letter, originally addressed to the General on the evening of November 8, 1942:
“My General, For twenty-eight months I have never allowed myself to write to you when I felt comforted by you in our terrible misfortune; but tonight, after hearing you speak, my joy is so profound that I ask your permission to express it. I have been aware since June 1940 of the struggle you have undertaken because, since 1919, I myself have fought in a small way, as my father did; for thirty-nine years in my family we have longed for a French leader who knew how to be firm and great, like you, in the face of the Allies, and what a treachery you have wrought on them for France today! How beautiful is the story of the twenty-eight-month battle you are waging alone, in silence, which will allow for a Franco-British union on the basis of equality and which will save both countries, France and Great Britain, when victory is won ‘thanks to France,’ for she alone can have a son capable of the act you have performed today.” All hopes are now possible […] Yvonne Salmon.