French leader Charles de Gaulle thought he was targeted by the CIA in 1961

From David Talbot, author of the forthcoming non-fiction thriller “The Devil’s Chessboard.”

“In April 1961, as President Kennedy wrestled with the CIA disaster at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, another CIA-related crisis gripped JFK’s young presidency. President Charles de Gaulle of France was threatened with a military coup by rebellious French officers based in Algeria, who were enraged by de Gaulle’s decision to settle that bloody colonial war. As rebellious tank units and paratroopers prepared to descend on Paris to overthrow French democracy, de Gaulle took to the TV airwaves,

9780062276162:”In one of the most dramatic moments in 20th century French history, the old war hero rallied his people to thwart the coup.”

[The right-wing enmity toward De Gaulle was depicting fictionally in the best-selling novel and thriller movie “Day of the Jackal.”]

“De Gaulle was convinced that the coup was supported by the Allen Dulles-led CIA — and the French press was filled with leaks alleging this secret U.S. involvement,” Talbot goes on.

“But Kennedy took pains to assure de Gaulle that he did not back the coup, and in fact he offered to defend the embattled French government with U.S. military firepower.

“De Gaulle acknowledged that JFK himself was not behind the French officers’ rebellion, but the incident made it clear to both leaders something equally ominous: Kennedy was not in charge of his own government.

Source: Facebook

6 thoughts on “French leader Charles de Gaulle thought he was targeted by the CIA in 1961”

  1. Talbot also maintains that Dulles figured he could meddle all he wanted in the French intrigues because JFK would be too busy trying to clean up the Bay of Pigs mess to be able to be of any help to DeGaulle…
    For his part, JFK asked DeGaulle to inform JFK of any Americans, including intelligence officers, who were taking part in the plots against the French leader…
    Having been burned by the CIA at the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy clearly could not trust the spooks from Langley to actually obey White House orders…

  2. According to this article, James Reston wrote in the New York Times that the CIA: “was involved in an embarrassing liaison with the anti-Gaullist officers who staged last week’s insurrection in Algiers … [the Bay of Pigs and Algerian events have] increased the feeling in the White House that the CIA has gone beyond the bounds of an objective intelligence-gathering agency and has become the advocate of men and policies
    that have embarrassed the Administration” (29 April).

    The Generals’ Plot Against de Gaulle [By William Blum, former U.S. State
    Department employee who resigned in 1967 in opposition to the Vietnam war] http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/issue51/articles/51_22-23.pdf

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