It is widely acknowledged that Britain is our staunchest ally. That's only natural since eastern U.S. was a British colony and we have shared language, culture and institutions.
Generally forgotten is that much of the southwestern part of the U.S. once belonged to Spain, then Mexico. If the Pilgrims could have arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, they could have stayed in a hotel; Santa Fe, founded by the Spanish in 1610, predated arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620 by a decade.
But it's France with whom we have had such alternately warm, cool - even cold - and warm again relationships throughout our history. Early French explorers, trappers, and traders have left their mark through names of countless towns, rivers and lakes. Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, and Lac du Flambeau in Wisconsin; Faribault and Pomme de Tarre in Minnesota; Joliet in Illinois; Des Moines and Dubuque in Iowa; and all the way down the Mississippi to Baton Rouge in Louisiana are just a few of countless examples.
The American-French relationship is like a couple needing each other, sharing a long-standing relationship characterized by periodic squabbling, followed by awkward, occasionally passionate, embraces, glossing over recurring nettlesome irritants.
The French were instrumental in the American colonial defeat of the powerful British Army. This was followed by a cooling-off period in which the American negotiators, realizing that France didn't relish a powerful America, cut a better deal with the Brits. French-American relations cooled further when President George Washington declined military assistance to the French in their continuing conflict with Britain.
President Thomas Jefferson, taking advantage of French-British antagonism, sought to purchase land around the strategic port of New Orleans, rendering access to the Gulf of Mexico. In a weakened position, the over-extended Napoleon sold the entire Louisiana Territory, roughly the entire Mississippi drainage basin west of the river, for pennies per acre.
With the French and British continuing to be at odds, America saw the British as the greater threat, and leaned toward France. An ensuing American embargo to both countries was more damaging to both Britain and America than to France. The War of 1812 with Britain soon ensued.
The boundary between the Louisiana Territory and Spanish Territory was murky. The U.S. inherited French claims to Texas, and traded that to Spain in return for Florida and Spain's rather weak claims to the Pacific Northwest. During the 1840s, both Britain and France favored continued independence of Texas and blocking U.S. moves to California. But as France opposed British intervention for this purpose, it opened the way for American expansion.
During the Civil War, both France and Britain remained neutral even though France favored the Confederacy. France took advantage of the situation to intervene in Mexico after the Civil War relations with France grew warmer again. With the Franco-Prussian War in which America took a pro-France stance, there followed a lengthy period of warm relations continuing through WWI.
The love affair remained solid through the interwar years. Paris welcomed jazz music, including black artists. France had no racial discriminatory laws as did parts of the U.S. American writers, including William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemmingway, were clearly influenced by experiences in French life.
It was inevitable that the U.S. would commit to France during WWII. Near war's end, sticky issues arose, particularly with General De Gaulle.
In the postwar years, the U.S. renegotiated French debts from WWI, and helped revive the French economy through the Marshall Plan. In 1949, the U.S. and France were formally allied through the North American Treaty Organization. But like a loving couple where each gets on the other's nerves, prickly issues kept popping up.
General Charles De Gaulle resented the American-British allied monopoly on nuclear power. Eisenhower wished to limit nuclear expansion. There was dissention over the Suez crisis in 1956. France opposed entry of Britain into the European Economic Community. General De Gaulle resented NATO's military structure and withdrew its military forces. This forced NATO headquarters to be transferred from France to Belgium.
The U.S. opposed French colonization of Africa and Southeast Asia. However, it supported the French fighting communism in French Indo China (Vietnam). But Eisenhower, having been elected to end American combat in Korea, declined American air support to the French in the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, the terminal battle that resulted in the French ouster from Vietnam.
Based on their disastrous experiences with colonialism in Africa and Vietnam, the French opposed American intervention in Vietnam, insisting that it was a losing deal. The U.S. came to be seen as an imperialist power by France.
After Vietnam, relations improved again, for a while. Relations became ice cold, with French opposition to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. In an infantile demonstration of idiocy, the American Congress relabeled french fries as "freedom fries." Grandstanding politicians and hawkish media commentators trashed France at every opportunity. With disingenuous demonstrations of "patriotism," faux patriots poured fine French wine on the ground. Polls in 2006 showed only one in six Americans saw France as an ally.
But as with an alternately hot and cold romance, by 2006, some 52 percent of Americans had a positive view of France.
2016 - enter Donald Trump. Rooting for his French alter ego, Marine Le Pen, he disparaged France as "soft on terrorism," and "a disaster." He snubbed Europe by unilaterally withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord.
But hold on. French President Emmanuel Macron, having defeated Le Pen, invites President Trump to Paris to celebrate Bastille Day, witness an impressive military parade, and be wined and dined. With this politically savvy act, President Macron, who is the age of Trump's children, demonstrated class and willingness to help the American president over a rough patch.
Trump's opinion of France softened. And he might even take another look at the climate accord.
The complicated romance between the U.S. and France continues.
- John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Fridays in the Monroe Times.
Generally forgotten is that much of the southwestern part of the U.S. once belonged to Spain, then Mexico. If the Pilgrims could have arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, they could have stayed in a hotel; Santa Fe, founded by the Spanish in 1610, predated arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620 by a decade.
But it's France with whom we have had such alternately warm, cool - even cold - and warm again relationships throughout our history. Early French explorers, trappers, and traders have left their mark through names of countless towns, rivers and lakes. Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, and Lac du Flambeau in Wisconsin; Faribault and Pomme de Tarre in Minnesota; Joliet in Illinois; Des Moines and Dubuque in Iowa; and all the way down the Mississippi to Baton Rouge in Louisiana are just a few of countless examples.
The American-French relationship is like a couple needing each other, sharing a long-standing relationship characterized by periodic squabbling, followed by awkward, occasionally passionate, embraces, glossing over recurring nettlesome irritants.
The French were instrumental in the American colonial defeat of the powerful British Army. This was followed by a cooling-off period in which the American negotiators, realizing that France didn't relish a powerful America, cut a better deal with the Brits. French-American relations cooled further when President George Washington declined military assistance to the French in their continuing conflict with Britain.
President Thomas Jefferson, taking advantage of French-British antagonism, sought to purchase land around the strategic port of New Orleans, rendering access to the Gulf of Mexico. In a weakened position, the over-extended Napoleon sold the entire Louisiana Territory, roughly the entire Mississippi drainage basin west of the river, for pennies per acre.
With the French and British continuing to be at odds, America saw the British as the greater threat, and leaned toward France. An ensuing American embargo to both countries was more damaging to both Britain and America than to France. The War of 1812 with Britain soon ensued.
The boundary between the Louisiana Territory and Spanish Territory was murky. The U.S. inherited French claims to Texas, and traded that to Spain in return for Florida and Spain's rather weak claims to the Pacific Northwest. During the 1840s, both Britain and France favored continued independence of Texas and blocking U.S. moves to California. But as France opposed British intervention for this purpose, it opened the way for American expansion.
During the Civil War, both France and Britain remained neutral even though France favored the Confederacy. France took advantage of the situation to intervene in Mexico after the Civil War relations with France grew warmer again. With the Franco-Prussian War in which America took a pro-France stance, there followed a lengthy period of warm relations continuing through WWI.
The love affair remained solid through the interwar years. Paris welcomed jazz music, including black artists. France had no racial discriminatory laws as did parts of the U.S. American writers, including William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemmingway, were clearly influenced by experiences in French life.
It was inevitable that the U.S. would commit to France during WWII. Near war's end, sticky issues arose, particularly with General De Gaulle.
In the postwar years, the U.S. renegotiated French debts from WWI, and helped revive the French economy through the Marshall Plan. In 1949, the U.S. and France were formally allied through the North American Treaty Organization. But like a loving couple where each gets on the other's nerves, prickly issues kept popping up.
General Charles De Gaulle resented the American-British allied monopoly on nuclear power. Eisenhower wished to limit nuclear expansion. There was dissention over the Suez crisis in 1956. France opposed entry of Britain into the European Economic Community. General De Gaulle resented NATO's military structure and withdrew its military forces. This forced NATO headquarters to be transferred from France to Belgium.
The U.S. opposed French colonization of Africa and Southeast Asia. However, it supported the French fighting communism in French Indo China (Vietnam). But Eisenhower, having been elected to end American combat in Korea, declined American air support to the French in the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, the terminal battle that resulted in the French ouster from Vietnam.
Based on their disastrous experiences with colonialism in Africa and Vietnam, the French opposed American intervention in Vietnam, insisting that it was a losing deal. The U.S. came to be seen as an imperialist power by France.
After Vietnam, relations improved again, for a while. Relations became ice cold, with French opposition to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. In an infantile demonstration of idiocy, the American Congress relabeled french fries as "freedom fries." Grandstanding politicians and hawkish media commentators trashed France at every opportunity. With disingenuous demonstrations of "patriotism," faux patriots poured fine French wine on the ground. Polls in 2006 showed only one in six Americans saw France as an ally.
But as with an alternately hot and cold romance, by 2006, some 52 percent of Americans had a positive view of France.
2016 - enter Donald Trump. Rooting for his French alter ego, Marine Le Pen, he disparaged France as "soft on terrorism," and "a disaster." He snubbed Europe by unilaterally withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord.
But hold on. French President Emmanuel Macron, having defeated Le Pen, invites President Trump to Paris to celebrate Bastille Day, witness an impressive military parade, and be wined and dined. With this politically savvy act, President Macron, who is the age of Trump's children, demonstrated class and willingness to help the American president over a rough patch.
Trump's opinion of France softened. And he might even take another look at the climate accord.
The complicated romance between the U.S. and France continues.
- John Waelti of Monroe, a retired professor of economics, can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net. His column appears Fridays in the Monroe Times.
