Habib Bourguiba the meeting, Bourguiba was sent to Paris to set forth the platform of the party. In France, he became close to the Tunisian nationalist students such as Habib Thameur, Hédi Nouira and Slimane Ben Slimane. Furthermore, he met under-secretary of state for foreign affairs, Pierre Viénot, on 6 July 1936. This publicly stated interview was unpopular among the French colonialists in Tunisia, which led later meetings to be conducted secretly. But French authorities were opposed to the hopes of Tunisian militants, and some of them even thought that it was a mere illusion. When he returned to Tunis, in September,
Habib Bourguiba safeguard of the Tunisian personality. With the economic crisis deepening and the resigned moderation of the nationalists, Bourguiba and his fellow mates reckoned that a good cause would be necessary enough to rebuild the nationalist movement on new basis by choosing new methods of action. In February 1933, when M'hamed Chenik, banker and chairman of the Tunisian credit union, got into trouble with the Residence, Bourguiba is the only one to defend him., reckoning that this issue could permit him to rally the bourgeois class, considered as collaborator with France, and unify the country around nationalism. Nevertheless, it only ended