We think he could have shown more gratitude to the country that had made possible – through his BBC speech – his entry into history. The British have their own particular relationship with him: admiration for the man who embodied resistance to Germany in 1940 but resentment that he blocked British entry to the Common Market. The only consistency in the career of Mitterrand was anti-Gaullism. Former French settlers from Algeria hated him. Roosevelt at various times held to both views. Communists accused de Gaulle of being a fascist, and conservatives accused him of being a tool of the communists. Few 20th-century political leaders have been the target of so many assassination attempts. This contemporary adulation of de Gaulle should not let us forget how hated he was by many sections of French society during his lifetime. But perhaps his greatest achievement was to create "de Gaulle" - that mythical figure of whom he himself talked in the third person. Returning to power in 1958, he saved France from a military coup d'état or a civil war over Algeria, and he created a new constitution. Thanks to him, France could make some claim to have been on the winning side in the war. This year, for the 70th anniversary of his famous call to resistance, Nicolas Sarkozy came to London, the Eurostar was repainted for the occasion with de Gaulle's portrait, and French news channels covered the event for the whole day.ĭe Gaulle was incontestably a great figure. When he was forced out of power in 1969, he said to an aide: "The French want to get rid of de Gaulle today but you will see the growth of the myth 30 years from now." This prediction has come true. Never has de Gaulle's reputation stood higher. As the French continue to pick over their World Cup debacle, which has been treated as a tragedy almost comparable to the fall of France in 1940, they console themselves with the memory of Charles de Gaulle.
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