‘When France Fell’ Review: The Problem of Vichy
By Ronald C. Rosbottom - Oct. 15, 2021 - WSJ
▻https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-france-fell-review-the-problem-of-vichy-11634306035
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Almost 50 years ago, Robert Paxton published his influential “Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944.” The book awakened readers to the shock of how close France came to becoming an authoritarian nation. It also introduced many people to the strange regime—officially called the État français but still referred to today as Vichy France—that continues to resonate in the collective memory of that important nation. (Vichy was the town in central France from which the new regime governed.)
Centered meticulously on the nature, practices and decline of the Vichy quasistate, Mr. Paxton’s study made little mention of the Vichy government’s extensive diplomatic relations with the U.S. Now, Michael Neiberg’s deeply researched and forcefully written “When France Fell: The Vichy Crisis and the Fate of the Anglo-American Alliance” adds to the narrative by shedding light on an embarrassing period in American diplomacy. Relying on archival records, including files opened after Mr. Paxton’s book came out in 1972, Mr. Neiberg offers a mesmerizing account of how the U.S., as it anticipated another European war, stumbled through attempts to neutralize Vichy France. Mr. Neiberg unabashedly claims that “this story does not always reflect well on the behavior of the United States government; it therefore tends to run counter to the usual heroic and triumphal stories about the war that normally dominate our memories.” (...)