The United States appears now to be reaffirming its friendship with France. Much of that is due to France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy.
The history of America's relationship with France has been one ranging from deep affection and enthusiastic camaredie to simmering hostility. Kind of like a family relationship? :-)
In a column posted on the History News Network, author and historian Thomas Fleming argues that the United States and France should be seen as longtime friends and allies. As Fleming points out, the main reason for some of the hatred of President Washington was Washington's refusal to openly support France against Great Britain.
But...
An interesting article from Wikipedia shows that relations between France and the United States have NOT always been as strong as Fleming implies.
What do you think?
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3 comments:
Fleming is right. Since when have the United States and France been rival enemies? We both owe each other a tremendous amout of respect and appreciation. Both of us have helped one another at various pivotal times in our history. Of course this doesn't mean we always see eye-to-eye, but what two friends ever do?
I thought the U.S. and France had serious issues with one another during John Adams' administration and more or less had a cold war with one another? This was thanks to the machinations of Thomas Jefferson which in turn contributed to the long estrangement between Adams and Jefferson. Am I wrong about this?
Geoff Elliott
The Abraham Lincoln Blog
http://abrahamlincolnblog.blogspot.com
Lindsey said it right. France has never been a REAL enemy. I think we should remember France as an important ally in our history, and I think France should remember us in the same way. We've both bailed each other out! Thank goodness for that!
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