Anti-French sentiment in the United States

Freedom fries were an initiative of U.S. representatives Robert W. Ney and Walter B. Jones in 2003.

Anti-French sentiment in the United States is the manifestation of Francophobia by Americans. It signifies a consistent hostility toward the government, culture, and people of France that employs stereotypes. It has a strong relation with inner-American political conflicts, as French attitudes and status symbols were closely connected with parts of American elites and leaders.

History of the Anti-French sentiment in the United States

As with any xenophobia, Francophobia in the U.S. can be distinguished from rational criticism of France.^[1] However, the different concepts and use of 'rationality' per se are already of interest.^[2] The founding history of the United States was built on French support, during the American Revolution. Despite the positive view Jeffersonian Americans had of the French Revolution, it awakened or created anti-French feelings among many Federalists. An ideological split was already emerging between Francophobe and Francophile sentiment, with John Adams, Alexander Hamilton and their fellow Federalists taking a skeptical view of France, even as Thomas Jefferson and other Democratic-Republicans urged closer ties. As for the Revolution, many or most Federalists denounced it as far too radical and violent. Those on the Democratic-Republican side remained broadly supportive. Pierre Bourdieu and Stanley Hoffmann^[3] have suggested that one of the roots of anti-French sentiments in the United States (and anti-American sentiments in France) is the claim of both countries that their social and political systems are "models" that universally apply. France's alleged secularism was often something of an issue for the Americans. There are some similarities there to the Federalists' reaction to perceived French anti-clericalism.

In the 1790s, the French, under a new post-revolutionary government, accused the United States of collaborating with the British and proceeded to impound UK-bound U.S. merchant ships. Attempts at diplomacy led to the 1797 XYZ Affair and led to the Quasi-War fought entirely at sea between the United States and France from 1798 to 1801. Relations somewhat improved after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. American cultured classes embraced French styles and luxuries after the Civil War: Americans trained as architects in the École des Beaux-Arts, French haute cuisine reigned at elite American tables, and upper-class women in the U.S. followed Parisian clothing fashions. Following World War I, a generation of rich American expatriates and bohemians settled in Paris. That did however not help with the populist image of a Liberal elite of American francophiles.

The allegation of a missing French-American lobby

French historian Justin Vaïsse has proposed that an important cause of public hostility in the U.S. is the small number of Americans of direct or recent French descent.^[4][5] Most Americans of French descent are descended from 17th and 18th century colonists who settled in Quebec, Acadia, or Louisiana before migrating to the United States or being incorporated into American territories. French Americans of colonial era Huguenot descent, French Protestant emigrants have often ceased identification with France.

World War II and later

The rout of British and French forces at the Battle of Dunkirk in May/June 1940 against Nazi German forces came as a profound shock to Francophilic Americans.

As in Operation Torch, neither French resistance forces nor the opposing French Vichy authorities were easy to handle. The Allies succeeded in slipping French General Henri Giraud out of Vichy France and offered him to command Free French forces in North Africa. Giraud however insisted to be nominated commander in chief of all the invading forces, which job already was reserved for General Eisenhower and Giraud remained a mere spectator. General George S. Patton said once, he 'would rather have a German division in front ... than a French one behind' him. The 112 Gripes about the French was a 1945 handbook, which has been reprinted since often.^[6] It was issued by the United States military authorities to defuse growing tension between the American military and the locals. The euphoria of victory over Germany was short-lived, and within months of Liberation, tensions began to rise between the French and the U.S. military personnel stationed in the country. Charles de Gaulle in particular inspired great irritation with his declaration that Paris had been "liberated by her own people, with the help of the armies of France, with the help and support of the whole of France, that is to say of fighting France, that is to say of the true France, the eternal France," with no mention of either the Allied invasion or the Vichy French military contribution to the Axis' cause, was to be a long-term source of annoyance.^[7]

Due to France's troubled history in Vietnam and the Algerian War, the US were rather critical about France's ongoing colonial aspirations. As well De Gaulle's support for Quebec independence, as exemplified by his Vive le Québec libre speech in 1967, was not very welcome. Franco-U.S. relations worsened even more, when De Gaulle attempted to position France as an independent power, in part by removing France from the joint military structure of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and vetoing Britain's entry in the EU. When De Gaulle requested in 1966 that all American soldiers leave French soil, US President Lyndon Baines Johnson is reported to have asked him whether that included the 60,000 who were buried in it.^[8]

Israel, Iraq and the Middle East

Eurafrique refers to the (important) idea of strategic partnership between Africa and Europe, the conspiracy theory Eurabia refers to a French/Arab cabal to muslimize Europe. However the Suez Crisis of 1956 marked a watershed for Israeli-French relations.^[9][10] Israel, France and the United Kingdom had conspired for control of the Suez Canal but had been forced to withdraw by the United States.^[9][11] While France was previously the main supporter of Israel, as well regarding anti-French sentiment in its Algerian territories, the USA took over its current role as ally of Israel with the Six-Day War in 1967.^[12] The change of sides impaired as well the French-American relationship, as France was seen as an increasingly outdated and aggressive neocolonial power.

Osirak was a light water reactor program in Iraq derived primarily from French technology. In 1981, it was destroyed in an attack by the Israeli Air Force. The complicity of the French state in the program worsened U.S.-French relations for years to come. Anti-French sentiment in the United States returned to the fore in the wake of France's refusal to support U.S. proposals in the UN Security Council for military action to invade Iraq. While other nations also opposed the U.S. proposals (notably Russia, China and traditional U.S. allies such as Germany, Canada and Belgium), France received particularly ferocious criticism.^[13]

In 1990s popular culture, the derogatory phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" began as a joke on The Simpsons in 1995. It was used by Groundskeeper Willy's character in a satirical manner, but was picked up around 2002 when it became popular in a few Washington, D.C. circles. National Review contributor Jonah Goldberg claimed credit for making the term known, with its implicit characterization of the French as cowards.^[14] In early 2003, George Will from The Washington Post described retreat as "an exercise for which France has often refined its savoir-faire since 1870".^[15] Anti-French displays also came in the form of bumper stickers and t-shirts calling for the United States to invade: "Iraq first, France next!"^[16] and "First Iraq, then Chirac!"

Freedom Fries is a political euphemism for french fries. The term came to prominence in 2003 when the then Republican Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, Bob Ney, renamed the menu item in three Congressional cafeterias in response to France's opposition to the proposed invasion of Iraq.

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