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Abstract
This article explores the interconnections between the media in France and the emergence of a Franco-British alliance on the eve of the Second World War, emphasizing how newspaper, radio and newsreel coverage helped mould British perceptions of France during the late 1930s. It will argue that British assessments of France, and thus France’s potential value as a wartime ally, were influenced greatly by the dominant representations furnished by the media. In 1936, such representations portrayed a polarized France unworthy of British support; by 1939, they depicted a strong and united country of inestimable value to Britain. This transformation was not simply fortuitous; by the late 1930s, French politicians, conscious of the deleterious effect that media representations of a divided France was having on their country’s prestige, endeavoured to transform the media from a symptom of decadence and malaise into a weapon of unity and strength.
Notes
1 Bell, France & Britain, 253.
2 The decadence school is most closely associated with Duroselle's La décadence, but has its roots in Marc Bloch's L’étrange défaite and the volume written by the journalist André Géraud (‘Pertinax’), Les Fossoyeurs. See also Weber, The Hollow Years.
3 Bédarida, “La ‘gouvernante anglaise’,” 228–40.
4 For example, Imlay, “The Making of the Anglo-French Alliance,” 92–120 and Young, France and the Origins of the Second World War.
5 Herman, The Paris Embassy of Sir Eric Phipps, 24.
6 Werth, preface to the 1935 edition of France in Ferment, 7.
7 This narrow focus caused concern in the Foreign Office during the Sudeten Crisis in September 1938. Oliver Harvey, suspecting ambassador Phipps of presenting one-sided appraisals of French opinion, asked that consular reports to be sent directly to London, unadulterated by the Paris embassy, to reflect more accurately the state of French opinion. Harvey (ed.), Diplomatic Diaries of Oliver Harvey, 27 September 1938, 124.
8 Seymour-Ure, The Political Impact of Mass Media, 77.
9 The National Archives [TNA], FO 371//20685/C2990/18/17: Lloyd Thomas to FO, 20 April 1937.
10 Albert, “La presse française de 1871 à 1940,” 526.
11 Ibid.
12 Perry, Memory of War in France, 101.
13 Dell, The Image of the Popular Front, 29–30.
14 Albert, “La presse française de 1871 à 1940,” 511. Circulation figures apply to March 1939. For a more recent account of the French press, and the role of French journalists in particular, see Delporte, Les journalistes en France. For more general overviews of the French media, see Jeanneney, Une histoire des médias and Delporte and d’Almeida, Histoire des médias en France.
15 Adamthwaite, “Democracies, Dictatorships and Public Opinion,” 347.
16 Perry, Memory of War in France, 101; Herman, The Paris Embassy, 24.
17 Cowans, “Fear and Loathing in Paris,” 75.
18 For more on politicization of French radio, see Jeanneney, Une histoire des médias and Méadel, Histoire de la radio.
19 Addisson, “Patriotism under Pressure,” 191–2.
20 Léon Merklen, “L’heure de la prière,” La Croix, 11 March 1936.
21 Micaud, The French Right, 85–106.
22 TNA, FO 371/19897/C2314/4/18: Clerk to Eden, 25 March 1936.
23 Documents Diplomatiques Français [DDF], 2e Série, Tome III: No. 280: Corbin to Delbos, 23 September 1936.
24 TNA, FO 371/19857/4465/1/17: Phipps to Wigram, 18 June 1936.
25 “Commentaires étrangers sur les élections françaises,” Le Petit Parisien, 5 May 1936.
26 Gallus, “Et maintenant?” L’Intransigeant, 5 May 1936.
27 Léon Daudet, “Victorieux sur une planche pourrie,” L’Action Française, 8 May 1936.
28 M. le Provost de Launay, “Un appel aux anciens combattants patriotes,” Le Figaro, 9 July 1936.
29 Herman, The Paris Embassy, 28.
30 TNA, FO 371/19856/C4040/1/17: Clerk telegram, 4 June 1936.
31 TNA, FO 371/19857/C4349/1/17: Lloyd Thomas to Vansittart, 11 June 1936.
32 TNA, FO 371/19857/C4383/1/17: Clerk telegram, 17 June 1936.
33 La bibliothèque de documentation internationale contemporaine [BDIC], Nanterre: Papiers Lucien Lamoureux, “Souvenirs politiques,” Mfm 31.
34 Archives Nationales [AN], Fonds Kayser, 465 AP/7: 2 KA 6, Dr. 2: Speech by Jacques Kayser (in the name of the Radical-Socialist Party) at the Place de la Nation, 25 June 1937.
35 The Evening Standard, editorial, 11 December 1936.
36 DDF, 2e Série, Tome IV: No. 302: Corbin to Delbos, 14 January 1937.
37 TNA, FO 371/20696/C1155/1127/17: Clerk to the Foreign Office, 9 February 1937.
38 TNA, FO 371/20687/C8134/18/17: Phipps to Eden, 25 November 1937.
39 Gabriel Péri, in L’Humanité, 16 January 1938. Émile Buré, in L’Ordre (16–17 January 1938), was equally critical of perceived British meddling in French domestic politics, though less strident in his rhetoric.
40 Chamberlain to Hilda, 13 March 1938, cited in Self (ed.), Neville Chamberlain Diary Letters, 305.
41 Archives d’histoire contemporaine, Centre d’histoire de Sciences Po [CHSP], Fonds Roger Genébrier, GE 6: Daladier radio broadcast (transcript), 21 August 1939.
42 CHSP, Fonds Roger Genébrier, GE 12: Churchill to Daladier, 14 April 1938.
43 See, for example, Halifax's comments to Phipps in a letter of 13 April 1938 (TNA, FO 800/311).
44 Harvey (ed.), Diplomatic Diaries of Oliver Harvey, 19–24 July 1938, 166. For more on this, see Bell, France & Britain, 218.
45 TNA, FO 371/21600/C12854/55/17: Phipps report on events in France during the third quarter of 1938, 22 October 1938.
46 TNA, CAB 21/554/C3388/55/17: Phipps to Halifax, 24 April 1938.
47 TNA, FO 371/21767/C11380/4770/18: Phipps to Halifax, 1 October 1938; TNA, FO 371/21767/C11502/4770/18: Phipps to Halifax, 3 October 1938.
48 AN, Fonds Daladier, 496 AP/10, 2 DA 3, dr. 4.
49 TNA, FO 800/311: Phipps to Halifax, 24 October 1938.
50 TNA, FO 371/C13323/1083/17: Phipps telegram, 2 November 1938; TNA, FO 371/21622/C13513/13363/17: Phipps telegram, 6 November 1938.
51 TNA, FO 371/21613/C13362/1083/17: Phipps telegram, 3 November 1938.
52 CHSP, Fonds Roger Genébrier, GE 6: Daladier radio broadcast (transcript), 12 November 1938.
53 AN, Fonds Daladier, 496 AP/10, 2 DA 3, dr. 6 (original emphasis).
54 AN, Fonds Daladier, 496 AP/11, 2 DA 4, dr.1: Président du Conseil: Service de presse et d’information, 28 November 1938.
55 Ministère des Affaires Étrangères [MAE], Série Z: Europe, 1919-1940: No. 291: Corbin to Bonnet, 26 November 1938.
56 TNA, FO, 371/21602/C14704/92/17: Phipps to Halifax, 28 November 1938.
57 TNA, FO 371/21600/C14022/55/17: Peake memorandum, 12 November 1938.
58 TNA, FO 371/21600/C14025/55/17: Barclay minute, 18 November 1938.
59 TNA, FO 371/22428/R9809: Phipps telegram, 9 December 1938. For a general appraisal by Phipps of French reactions to the Italian claims, see his telegram of 19 December 1938 (TNA, FO 371/22429/R10098).
60 BDIC, Mfm. 31: Lamoureux, “Souvenirs politiques.”
61 TNA, FO 371/22429/R10272: D’Ormesson to Lord Winterton, 18 December 1938 (forwarded to Caccia in the Foreign Office on 22 December).
62 Martin, Years of Plenty, 182.
63 Mayaffre, “Exalter l’Empire pour déserter l’Europe,” 285.
64 Phipps to Halifax, 10 November 1938: TNA, FO 371/21603/C13846/101/17.
65 Benteli, Jay, and Jeancolas, “Le cinéma français,” 28.
66 Dodd, “Are We Defended?” 4.
67 Ibid., 5.
68 Georges Vidal, “Le Parti Communiste français et la défense nationale,” 333–69.
69 Benteli, Jay, and Jeancolas, “Le cinéma français,” 38–9.
70 Dodd, “Are We Defended?” 1.
71 Benteli, Jay, and Jeancolas, “Le cinéma français,” 39–40. The emphasis on the Entente-Cordiale during the Bastille Day celebrations was echoed throughout the printed press invariably accompanied by a plethora of photographs. See, for example, Le Petit Parisien, 15 July 1939, and especially Paris-Soir, 15 July 1939.
72 Bell and White, “Our Great Ally France,” 14–15.
73 Ibid., 22.
74 TNA, FO 371/22909/C3070/25/17: Phipps to Halifax, 13 March 1939.
75 TNA, FO 371/22909/C5013/25/17: Phipps to Halifax, 6 April 1939.
76 Crémieux-Brilhac, Les Français de l’an 40, 297; du Réau, Édouard Daladier, 319.
77 TNA, FO 371/22909/C3439/25/17: Campbell telegram, 19 March 1939.
78 Journal Officiel de la République française [JO]: Débats parlementaires, Chambre des députés: Daladier speech, 2e séance, 27 June 1938, 1872–1873.
79 MAE, Série Z: Europe, 1919–1940, no. 283: Corbin to Bonnet, 28 June 1939.
80 BDIC, Mfm. 31: Lamoureux, “Souvenirs politiques.”
81 TNA, FO 371/22909/C9799/25/17: Phipps report on internal events in France during the second quarter of 1939, 11 July 1939; TNA, FO 371/22910/C10889/25/17: Campbell telegram, 3 August 1939.
82 Werth, Twilight of France, 345.
83 JO: Lois et décrets, 8 February 1939, 1770. See also Tudesq, “L’utilisation gouvernemantale de la radio,” 255–64.
84 TNA, FO 371/22934/C6896/1314/17: New Department minute, 8 May 1939.
85 JO: Lois et décrets, 7 May 1939, 5774; JO: Lois et décrets, 29 July 1939, 9626. See also Amaury, De l’information et de la propagande d’État.
86 Dockrill, British Establishment Perspectives, 161.
87 Herman, The Paris Embassy, 182.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Daniel Hucker
Daniel Hucker, Department of History, University of Nottingham, Lenton Grove, University Park, Nottingham NG72RD, UK.