First Bayeux speech

First Speech of Charles de Gaulle
Part of World War II
	Monument commemorating General de Gaulle’s visit to Bayeux on June 14, 1944
Date	June 14, 1944
Location	Bayeux, France
Participants	Charles de Gaulle
Outcome	Strengthened the legitimacy of the Provisional Government of the French Republic and countered American plans for French administration

The First Bayeux Speech was a speech delivered by General Charles de Gaulle of France in the context of liberation after the Normandy landings in June 1944.

A few days after the Normandy landings, General Charles de Gaulle sought to symbolically meet the French people in one of the first towns liberated. He also aimed to counter the American intentions to establish their own administration in France in the form of the Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories (AMGOT), a branch of which had been specifically prepared to govern France. In this context, the United States military government in France had even begun circulating a currency based on the dollar in the liberated territories of Europe.

After D-Day De Gaulle was anxious to get to French soil. Churchill agreed, allowing De Gaulle to visit Bayeux, with a population of 15,000 the biggest French town liberated so far.This was seen as the first big test of De Gaulle's popularity in France, with the anti-Gaullist President Roosevelt speculating that De Gaulle would "crumble" and the British would be forced to withdraw support.^[1]

Arriving in France on June 14, 1944, de Gaulle delivered went to Bayeux. He was not supposed to have any meetings there but he would be allowed to be seen,^[1] but De Gaulle decided to make a speech in the town^[2] in which he proclaimed Bayeux the capital of Free France. He also appointed his Chef de Cabinet, François Coulet as a Commissioner of the Republic, who through being an efficient adminstrator who was useful to the allies.^[3] This set a precedent for the Provisional Government run by De Gaulle to appoint French administrators loyal to De Gaulle in French territory liberated by the allies.

After the speech he traveled to the United States for the first time. His visit included meetings with French scientists working on the Manhattan Project and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The enthusiastic reception from the population confirmed his popularity in France^[1] which discouraged the United States from placing France under their administration. The Provisional Government of the French Republic, officially formed on June 3, 1944, in Algiers, the capital of French Algeria, under de Gaulle’s leadership as the successor to the French Committee of National Liberation, was thus able to establish itself in Paris after the liberation of the capital and assume effective leadership of the country.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Jackson, Julian (2018). A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle. London: Allen Lane. pp. 315–318. ISBN 9780674987210.
^ Vigneron, Sylvain (23 July 2018). "Le discours de Bayeux, Enseigner de Gaulle". Fondation Charles de Gaulle.
^ Robertson, Charles L. (2011). When Roosevelt planned to govern France. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-1-61376-007-9. OCLC 794700522. Retrieved 2025-01-23.

[jackson2018-1] Jackson, Julian (2018). A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle. London: Allen Lane. pp. 315–318. ISBN 9780674987210.

[2] Vigneron, Sylvain (23 July 2018). "Le discours de Bayeux, Enseigner de Gaulle". Fondation Charles de Gaulle.

[when-3] Robertson, Charles L. (2011). When Roosevelt planned to govern France. University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 978-1-61376-007-9. OCLC 794700522. Retrieved 2025-01-23.

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