Table of Contents

Introduction: The Franco-American Mésentente

Chapter 1. The Free French and the Americans before Pearl Harbor

• France under Siege
• De Gaulle, the Formation of the Free French, and Colonial Resistance
• Disaster at Dakar
• The Empire Defense Council and the Allies in the Tropics
• Free-French Representation in the United States

Chapter 2. The New Caledonian Rally to the Free French

• Disunity in Local Allegiances and Foreign Interests
• The Political Showdown Begins
• The New Caledonian Coup
• Pro-Vichy Partisans

Chapter 3. New Caledonia in Limbo: Preparing for War in the Pacific

• Local and Foreign Anxieties over New Caledonia’s Defense
• De Gaulle’s Desire for Centralized Control and the Brunot Mission
• The d’Argenlieu Mission

Chapter 4. Going to Pieces: The 1942 Riot

• The Americans Arrive: January–March ‘42
• New Caledonia in Political and Military Crisis: April ‘42
• Things Go Awry: May ‘42
• Calm is Restored but, Mésentente Sets In: May–July ‘42

Chapter 5. The Rooster and the Eagle: Governor Montchamp, Admiral Halsey, and the American Occupation

• Admiral Halsey’s Arrival
• Guadalcanal, the Solomons Campaign, and the Expansion of U.S. Military Presence: August ‘42–August ‘43
• The Governor’s Graveyard: Montchamp, d’Argenlieu, and Vergès

6. Governor Laigret and the American Economic and Cultural Challenge

• Local Politics and the Arrival of Governor Laigret
• Grievances and Complaints against the Americans
• Laigret’s Anti-Americanist Campaign and Increasing Mésentente
• American Ambitions for New Caledonia?

Chapter 7. Roosevelt and de Gaulle: Conflicting Visions of a Postwar World Order

• Anticolonialism and Yankee Imperialism
• Anti-Americanism and the French Empire
• American Security and the Fate of the French Colonies in the Pacific Liberation, 1944

Chapter 8. From Combat Base to Rest and Rehabilitation Area: The American Departure

• Governor Tallec
• Autonomist Sentiment and Social and Labor Unrest
• American Materialism, Entertainment and the Issue of Withdrawal
• Anti-Communism versus Anticolonialism

Conclusion: V-J Day and Postwar Assessments, Accounts and Balances

Bibliography
Index