-2-
 
          President Lebrun then launched into an historic dissertation covering the sixty-nine years 
 
of his life.  He spoke of his having been born in a French province adjacent to the German border, 
 
and of his earliest recollections being memories of German officers and troops occupying that 
 
portion of France. The gist of the argument was the argument which has been so frequently set
 
forth, and which is today being so frequently set forth--and with so much reason--by French 
 
statesmen, namely that the oldest generation of Frenchmen living today has seen three wars 
 
involving France, brought about as the result of German policy, and that is the vital need of 
 
France to assure herself that at least one generation of Frenchmen can be born to live a normal 
 
span of life, and die, without having seen their country involved in war as the result of German 
 
aggression.
 
          There was nothing in the slightest degree signlficant in any of the details mentioned by the 
 
President, and his memory is evidently failing rapidly, because it seemed to be impossible for him 
 
to remember with any accuracy names or dates, or even facts.
 
          At the end of our interview he asked me to convey his most friendly personal greetings to 
 
the President; he spoke of the deep appreciation of his wife for the courtesies shown her when she 
 
visited the United States some years ago, and of his great regret that he himself would be unable 
 
to visit the United States this coming summer as he had planned. He said that he had done his 
 
utmost to prevent his own re-election to the Presidency, but that, in view of the critical situation 
 
in Europe, he