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More than Just a Scourge: General de Gaulle and the Cold War

General de Gaulle is often remembered as the great scourge of the Western Alliance during the 1960s, the mercurial French President who launched a global and comprehensive challenge against the United States’ leadership of the Free World. But de Gaulle was driven by more than simply obstructionism or a desire to make life difficult for his American allies. Garret Martin will make the case that the General pursued an ambitious, if flawed, grand strategy during the 1960s through which he sought to overcome the Cold War bipolar order.

Date & Time

Monday
Sep. 9, 2013
4:00pm – 5:30pm ET

Location

6th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center
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Overview

Washington History Seminar
Historical Perspectives on International and National Affairs

 "More than Just a Scourge:
General de Gaulle and the Cold War"

Garret Martin
EUROPEAN INSTITUTE and AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

General de Gaulle is often remembered as the great scourge of the Western Alliance during the 1960s, the mercurial French President who launched a global and comprehensive challenge against the United States’ leadership of the Free World. But de Gaulle was driven by more than simply obstructionism or a desire to make life difficult for his American allies. Garret Martin will make the case that the General pursued an ambitious, if flawed, grand strategy during the 1960s through which he sought to overcome the Cold War bipolar order.

Garret Martin is an editor at large at the European Institute, based in Washington, DC, and a board member of the Institute’s journal, European Affairs. The author of General de Gaulle’s Cold War: Challenging American Hegemony, 1963-1968 (2013) and a co-editor of Globalizing de Gaulle: International Perspectives on French Foreign Policies, 1958-1969 (2010), he teaches transatlantic relations past and present at American University.

Monday September 9, 2013
 4:00 p.m.
Woodrow Wilson Center, 6th Floor Moynihan Board Room
Ronald Reagan Building, Federal Triangle Metro Stop

Reservations requested because of limited seating:
mbarber@historians.org or 202-450-3209

Photo ID required for admittance to the building.

 September 16: Joseph C. Miller (Univ. of Virginia) on debt in Africa

Co-sponsored by the National History Center of the American Historical Association and the Wilson Center, the seminar is directed by Eric Arnesen and Christian Ostermann. It meets weekly during the academic year, January to May and September to December. See www.nationalhistorycenter.org for the schedule, speakers, topics, and dates as well as webcasts and podcasts. The seminar is grateful for the support of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.

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Speaker

Garret Martin

Professorial Lecturer, School of International Service, American University
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Hosted By

History and Public Policy Program

The History and Public Policy Program makes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs.  Read more

Cold War International History Project

The Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Through an award winning Digital Archive, the Project allows scholars, journalists, students, and the interested public to reassess the Cold War and its many contemporary legacies. It is part of the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program.  Read more

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