Mr. Bullitt said he observed the defeat of France which he attributed to a division of opinion among the French public over social reforms and civil liberties.
The French, he continued, in some ways, were well prepared militarily, "but when the question arose of mobilizing the whole nation for national defence by compulsory national service, even as a temporary measure to save the liberties of France, the French found it more comfortable to listen to voices—some sincere and some bought by dictators—which told them their in ideal liberties were sacred and must not be sacrificed for a moment, even to save the liberties of the nation, They declared it was more important for the individual to work only 40 hours a week than for his country to have enough planes and that voluntary acceptance of national service as a temporary measure would be the imitation of dictatorship.
"Thus, in the name of preservation of individual liberty, the national liberty of France was condemned in advance to destruction."
Owing to arguments over the policy of aeroplane production, France at one time allowed its output to sink to 37 planes per month while Germany produced 1,000 each month, Mr. Bullitt added.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.