A soldier, a statesman, a writer, an airport, a
subway station, a square, a university, an aircraft
carrier, the conscience of a nation, and many other
things.
Charles de Gaulle
is probably the most prominent character in French
History since Napoleon Bonaparte.
During WW2 he played no major role compared to
Roosevelt or Churchill because his country had lost
the war, but his speeches at the BBC and his strong
personality let him appear as the embodiment of "real"
France in the eyes of the French. He also managed to
become the voice of France on the world stage. He obtained
a seat at the UN Security Council for France, which
was a remarkable achievement when you consider all the
things France did (or did not) during the war.
After the war, in a few months, he built major parts of
the French social system. Then he stayed away from
direct action during more than ten years. In 1958,
because Algeria's war of independence was threatening
the stability of France, De Gaulle was called back to
power, and a new Constitution was adopted.
He was President of the Fifth Republic during eleven
years. He was famous abroad for his desire to be
independent from both the American and the Sovietic
camp. After facing important student demonstrations in
May 1968, he eventually resigned in 1969 after losing
a referendum. He died in 1970.
In France, politicians want to be writers, and
writers want to be politicians. De Gaulle was not an
exception with his Memoirs, which start with his intimate
feelings about the grandeur of France: All my life long, I had a certain idea of France. Although de Gaulle's ideas may seem quite outdated nowadays, they
still appeal to French souls in a more or less conscious
way, and the Gaullist party is still one of the most
important French political parties. Actually de Gaulle,
like the foreign tourists, cared more about France than
about the French.
As a reward for reading (or scrolling) so far, please
enjoy the following famous Charles de Gaulle quotes:
The graveyards are full of indispensable men.
China is a big country, inhabited by many
Chinese.
How can one conceive of a one party system in a
country that has over 200 varieties of cheese?
Since a politician never believes what he says, he
is quite surprised to be taken at his word.
When I am right, I get angry. Churchill gets
angry when he is wrong. So we were often angry at each
other.
Vive le Quebec libre !
The English translations of the quotes were found on
http://www.cp-tel.net/miller/BilLee/quotes/Gaulle.html,
http://members.aol.com/funnyfirm/quotes.htm and
other Web sites.