Events

This lecture takes an in-depth look at the foreign policy of one of France’s most popular presidents, Charles de Gaulle. JFK’s historical visit to France in 1961 and his discovery of a famously difficult ally in de Gaulle set the tone for years of Franco-American friction. De Gaulle challenged U.S. hegemony and leadership in numerous ways during these dangerous Cold War years, criticizing Kennedy’s Berlin policy, removing France from NATO, and turning France into a nuclear power in its own right, to name a few. As a result, de Gaulle has frequently been portrayed as being anti-American. This lecture seeks to readjust this view. No, not anti-American, but a jealous guardian of French national sovereignty and independence. A closer look at these core concepts of “Gaullism” is especially timely now as current French President Emmanuel Macron has been busy promoting this very Gaullist idea of European strategic independence.