ABSTRACT
Paris was bedecked and glittering for the occasion. A railway station at the Bois de Boulogne had been specially built for the visit. The brilliant reception and dinner at the Quai d’Orsay on 21 July was a moment of triumph for the Foreign Minister’s wife, Odette Bonnet. The Halifax-Bonnet exchange of notes over French pressure on Czechoslovakia had been frank but far from friendly. Spain and Italy were also contentious matters. An appeal to Hitler against building up tension had been sent on 11 August but it was essential for its success that it be kept secret. The Runciman mission gave London and Paris a much-needed respite, but the breathing space was short-lived. The Soviet stress on the League was grist to Bonnet’s mill, but the suggestion of staff talks was sufficiently practical to be embarrassing in Paris. The Runciman mission had served as a useful stop-gap but a settlement seemed as remote as ever.
