This article was co-written with historian Raynald Rouleau as section two of a four part series. Part one can be read here. During the summer of 1967, Canada was celebrating its centennial with the 100th anniversary of the British North America Act. It must be noted that the Canadian Confederation of 1867 was formed for no other reason but the protection of the empire against the republican forces of Abraham Lincoln in the United States and their allies in Canada as outlined in the CP lecture
DeGaulle had an unusual sense of his theatrical role on the world stage. This was reflected in his considerable sang froid after several attempts on his life, one which was treated as une plaisanterie de mauvais goût( a joke in bad taste) while after a later attempt he was said to have quipped, dommage, ça aurait été une belle sortie ( too bad, that would have been a nice exit).
It wasn't, however, only in Canada where he was controversial. His efforts to employ an independent foreign policy for France were constantly lampooned in the American press. Long before the "freedom fries" epoch during the Iraq War, francophobia had become a fashionable bias in the US. At the time, my wife was working at the French consulate in NYC. I can remember one day she came home in tears after enduring an anti-French diatribe by a cab driver, who must have somehow detected her faint accent.
DeGaulle had an unusual sense of his theatrical role on the world stage. This was reflected in his considerable sang froid after several attempts on his life, one which was treated as une plaisanterie de mauvais goût( a joke in bad taste) while after a later attempt he was said to have quipped, dommage, ça aurait été une belle sortie ( too bad, that would have been a nice exit).
It wasn't, however, only in Canada where he was controversial. His efforts to employ an independent foreign policy for France were constantly lampooned in the American press. Long before the "freedom fries" epoch during the Iraq War, francophobia had become a fashionable bias in the US. At the time, my wife was working at the French consulate in NYC. I can remember one day she came home in tears after enduring an anti-French diatribe by a cab driver, who must have somehow detected her faint accent.