Oldest Allies, Guarded Friends: The United States and France Since 1940

(Hardback)

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The author offers a revisionist-style look at the French-American relationship as seen through a series of case studies dating from the great misunderstanding between the Roosevelt administration and the Free French movement in World War II to the formation of the Euro-Corps in the early 1990s. American power grew tremendously in the wake of World War II and the Cold War that followed, forming, around a strategic consensus based on the indivisibility of defense against the Soviet Union, an American imperium in Europe. The interests of this imperium differed significantly from those of France, the oldest and one of the most important nations in Europe. Great Britain, France's counterpart in these respects, benefitted from special treatment by, and a special relationship with, the United States. France's efforts to develop a national nuclear force as a demonstration of its strength and independence were continually hampered by the United States until the 1970s. Britain's efforts, on the other hand, were not hampered but aided. In struggling to regain France's leading position in Europe, the French leadership under Charles de Gaulle sought on the one hand an independent nuclear force, and, on the other, a strengthening of Europe with a Franco-German alliance at its core. Both of these policies provoked friction with the United States; both will now have to be revised, after the end of the Cold War and the emergence of a powerful, reunited Germany. The overall prospect, however, is that of continuing differences between France and the United States, as the antagonisms of the past, which date primarily from the World War II era, will not easily die out. Written by a former senior intelligence officer with a background of extensive French government and academic relationships, this book will be invaluable to all students of contemporary European history and U.S. foreign relations.

Reviews

"Charles Cogan's well-informed, beautifully researched and elegantly written account of a number of contests between France and the United States has two great merits. The first is that he emphasizes what lies behind many of these clashes: the confrontation of two universalisms, of two remarkably similar convictions that the values one's nation stands for are universal values....The other merit of this book, even when the author disagrees with French positions...[is that] he shows that what to many Americans...appeared to be merely petulance, meanness and childish obstinacy needs to be seen as a stubborn, not always wise or successful but certainly rational defense of French interests and of a certain French conception of international order."-From the foreword by Stanley Hoffmann C. Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France Harvard University
"This is a marvelous book. No one is likely ever again to bring to the history of modern Franco-American relations Charles Cogan's special combination of experience and knowledge. He knows the American government from deep inside. He knows France as do few even of the French. And, he writes like a poet!"-Ernest R. May Charles Warren Professor of American History Harvard University
.,."ably presents a series of individual case studies, episodes that illustrate inherent tension. The book is particularly good on FDR's myopic Vichy policy, the turmoil of the Fourth Republic, America's overt Anglophilism, France's colonial failures, and French overtures to Germany. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate collections."-Choice
...ably presents a series of individual case studies, episodes that illustrate inherent tension. The book is particularly good on FDR's myopic Vichy policy, the turmoil of the Fourth Republic, America's overt Anglophilism, France's colonial failures, and French overtures to Germany. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate collections.-Choice
These case studies are based on memoirs, press reports, and valuable personal interviews with many of the key actors. Charles G. Cogan's work is most useful and most interesting when he analyzes the effects of individual personalitites on Franco-American diplomatic relations.-The Historian
"These case studies are based on memoirs, press reports, and valuable personal interviews with many of the key actors. Charles G. Cogan's work is most useful and most interesting when he analyzes the effects of individual personalitites on Franco-American diplomatic relations."-The Historian
..."ably presents a series of individual case studies, episodes that illustrate inherent tension. The book is particularly good on FDR's myopic Vichy policy, the turmoil of the Fourth Republic, America's overt Anglophilism, France's colonial failures, and French overtures to Germany. Upper-division undergraduate and graduate collections."-Choice

Author Bio

CHARLES G. COGAN (Doctor of Public Administration, Harvard University) is a Visiting Scholar, John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. After a stint in journalism and service as an army officer during the Korean War, Dr. Cogan joined the CIA, where he spent 37 years, 23 of them on assignments overseas.