This smiling portrait of General John Pershing, the commander of the American Expeditionary Force, unashamedly reflects the consolation he found in Paris for the testing times he had endured right up to the Armistice and beyond.
Pershing had arrived in Paris in 1917 and endeared himself to the gathered crowds by proclaiming, ‘Lafayette, we are here!’, echoing the celebrated French Republican supporter of the United States in the War of Independence. The French government decided to commission the General’s portrait and turned to a Romanian refugee artist, Micheline Resco.
She was to provide not only this enduring picture of the American hero but also the delights of her bedchamber to the General at a time when he had many stresses to confront. He would regularly have the American flag and his general’s four stars removed from his Locomobile limousine staff car and be driven to meet her in the Rue des Renaudes. For almost thirty years they were to remain lovers, and they married when Pershing was close to death after the next war.
The Armistice infuriated Pershing. He had told the Allies, ‘Germany’s morale is low. Her allies have deserted her one by one. She can no longer hope to win. We should continue the offensive until we compel her unconditional surrender.’ Pershing’s views had found fervent support back home from former President Theodore Roosevelt and from Senate Republican leader Henry Cabot Lodge.
Pershing and Marshal Foch had had a stand-up shouting row, only weeks before, about the American role in an attack. Now, with the Germans seeking a ceasefire, Pershing told Foch that an armistice would lose the chance actually to secure peace on terms that would assure its permanence. When the terms were revealed, Pershing insisted that his troops keep moving forward throughout the hours up to 11.00 am.
Pershing was a general with extraordinary experience of war. Quite apart from his role in France, he had led a celebrated assault on an enemy hill in the Spanish-American war, served in the Philippines and commanded the campaign in Mexico to halt the adventures of Pancho Villa.
But, with the fighting stopped and the Versailles peace conference under way, the Generals found themselves excluded from the deliberations. When Pershing saw the final terms, he condemned them roundly with the words ‘This is just a twenty-year ceasefire.’ He was of course to be proved accurate to within a matter of months.