A Perspective of the Mid-1960s

Abstract

Unique among powerful contemporary European statesmen in his ability to think coherently and cogently in global and historical terms, General de Gaulle had an influence of much wider than French significance as President of the Fifth Republic 1958–1969. Even when it has seemed less than clear what embodiment he envisaged for his concepts of ‘European Europe’, ‘Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals’ or ‘l’Europe des patries’ de Gaulle’s forthright defence of France’s right to a pre-eminent role on the Continent decisively influenced the development of the various international and supernational institutions created since the Second World War. At his tenth press conference the President surveyed problems of European unity and Europe’s place in the world on the occasion of his return from talks with the West German Chancellor. His reflections constitute a commentary on many of the broad issues raised in preceding documents in this volume as well as the specific issue of European co-operation. Perhaps, too, they fittingly mark the close of an era; at the end of the 1960s, new vistas have opened with the exploration of space and men setting foot on the moon.