Date: Sunday, 24 January 1943
Place: Casablanca, Morocco
Artist: Lieutenant H.A. Mason
On 24 January 1943, the final day of Casablanca Conference, Morocco, the journalists assembled on the lawn behind Roosevelt’s villa. Four white chairs sat empty before the scrum of reporters. Shortly after noon, the door to the villa opened, and Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, and Henri Giraud walked out, while Franklin Roosevelt was carried to his chair. The whirling of film and clicking of cameras quickly replaced the murmurs of disbelief.
“When the Press reporters saw us both they could scarcely believe their eyes, or, when they were told we had been there for nearly a fortnight, their ears,” wrote Churchill.
Roosevelt and Churchill hoped to bring the competing factions of the French resistance together in Casablanca, but their attempt proved futile. There would be no headlines touting a new, unified French war effort. But photographs showing American, British, and French leaders together would galvanize Allied propaganda efforts. As Giraud, Roosevelt, and Churchill traded small talk and offered occasional smiles for the cameras, a solemn-faced de Gaulle smoked a cigarette. A photographer wanted more—something that didn’t smack of a command performance—and urged Giraud and de Gaulle to shake hands. The generals ignored the suggestion, until the president prodded them. “Why not shake hands?” said Roosevelt. “You two Frenchmen are loyal to your country, and that warrants a cordial handshake anytime.”
They stood, de Gaulle pulling the cigarette from his mouth and holding it to the side, and managed a fleeting handshake. Unable to capture the moment, the photographers called for them to do it again. The second shake was no less awkward. After Giraud and de Gaulle departed, Churchill moved over to sit by Roosevelt and talk further with the reporters and war correspondents gathered before them. Roosevelt began by reading a background statement and then spoke from some notes for about fifteen minutes.
Roosevelt and Churchill hoped to bring the competing factions of the French resistance together in Casablanca, but their attempt proved futile. There would be no headlines touting a new, unified French war effort. But photographs showing American, British, and French leaders together would galvanize Allied propaganda efforts. As Giraud, Roosevelt, and Churchill traded small talk and offered occasional smiles for the cameras, a solemn-faced de Gaulle smoked a cigarette. A photographer wanted more—something that didn’t smack of a command performance—and urged Giraud and de Gaulle to shake hands. The generals ignored the suggestion, until the president prodded them. “Why not shake hands?” said Roosevelt. “You two Frenchmen are loyal to your country, and that warrants a cordial handshake anytime.”
They stood, de Gaulle pulling the cigarette from his mouth and holding it to the side, and managed a fleeting handshake. Unable to capture the moment, the photographers called for them to do it again. The second shake was no less awkward. After Giraud and de Gaulle departed, Churchill moved over to sit by Roosevelt and talk further with the reporters and war correspondents gathered before them. Roosevelt began by reading a background statement and then spoke from some notes for about fifteen minutes.
Source :
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_en_France
https://www.gettyimages.com/search/2/image?family=editorial&phrase=giraud+de+gaulle
https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/casablanca-film-mit-humphrey-bogart-und-ingrid-bergman-a-1170512.html
https://time.com/5101354/churchill-fdr-casablanca-photo/
