Analyzes the foreign policy and political philosophy of France under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle during the years 1968-69. The author breaks his analysis into six parts: (1) the enigma of de Gaulle, (2) the General’s style-image and rhetoric, (3) the philosophical content of Gaullism, (4) Gaullism and nationalism, (5) the normative role of France in the political world, and (6) the types of French foreign policy. The author finds de Gaulle the man to be quite different from the de Gaulle seen by the world. The image of the man was built up until he personified the “grandeur” of the French State. De Gaulle himself was aware of his angelic status and used it politically to the fullest extent. He tried to use his charisma to bring the French to the forefront of world affairs. The grandeur of France was de Gaulle’s main objective. “For de Gaulle, tactics, even strategy, change, sometimes radically. But his objectives do not.”
