Odds are that you know what this is. It is the original, not the one on Las Vegas. Spring 2019 photo by the author.
Short answer: Yes.
Two part longer answer, first as people, then as a country.
More than once I have improved my immediate relationship with a French person by pointing out that I am, in fact, not British, but American. This is not a criticism of British people, but a natural result of the fact that the majority of tourists in France are British, which means that the overwhelming majority of idiot, impolite tourists one encounters are British. The British people I know personally are lovely, and French people will agree with that if you get them to look past the hundred years war years. There are no stereotypical prejudices against Americans that I’ve encountered, although I have met people who really did not appreciate that whole “freedom fries” nonsense twenty years or so ago. (Fries are Belgian in origin, not French at all, which is an indication of what ignorance prior to speaking up can do for you.) French people are very aware of how much American help meant for the outcome of World War II. The only real “complaint” I’ve read (not heard) was the wry comment that “When the Germans invaded, the men went into hiding. When the Americans come we have to hide the women!” Apparently, the liberating GIs were told that French women were desperate for love after the occupation, and also apparently, this was not entirely untrue. They were making love ‘everywhere’ according to accounts from the time.
As a country their attitude is more mixed. All of Europe has viewed the USA as the world leader in security and economic policy since the end of World War Two. NATO is an American invention, after all. America has been seen as providing security for Europe, and as a stable force for good at home. In the past couple of decades, however, this image has suffered greatly. First there was the reaction in the USA to France refusing to back the second gulf war. Freedom Fries? Zut Alors! It didn’t help when it turned out that Saddam had, in fact, no weapons of mass destruction more deadly than his ego. And Europe saw what they interpreted as a bungled effort to resolve remaining issues from that war, including infrastructure repair and installation of a decent government in Iraq.
And then we elected Donald Trump as President. What had been seen as a bastion of security and stability suddenly seemed to fall apart. It would be difficult to overestimate how much damage that administration did to the image of the United States in Europe, including of course France. Well, President Trump said that Europe should handle their own defense, and they are moving to do just that. The talk amongst governments is that Europe is going to have to mind its own house from now own. There is talk of a stronger Union, of a common military, that sort of thing. I recently read that 15% of French citizens trust the US to guide France in dealing with other dations. Twenty years ago a solid majority trusted us. This is not a political column. I’m just reporting, so please no political comments. I’ll just delete them. This is really how France is thinking these days. But the good news is that French people genuinely like, and are grateful to, Americans. France is our oldest ally after all, so that seems well and proper.
