Winston Churchill
Calls for Britain to meet the threat of Germany
Joseph R. McCarthy
On his war against Communism
John Foster Dulles
On the fall of Dien Bien Phu
Paul McCartney
Dispels rumours of his death
Albert Einstein
Calls for an end to atomic proliferation
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Charles De Gaulle
Free French general
Urges America to join the Allies
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from War and Diplomacy >
Charles De Gaulle
Free French general
Free men throughout the entire world are now uniting in their righteous anger.
On July 14, 1941-Bastille Day-Free French General Charles De Gaulle delivered a radio address in which he urged Americans to join in the struggle against Nazi tyranny and oppression. De Gaulle had fled to Britain in 1940 after Henri Pétain and other French leaders signed an armistice with Nazi Germany. In opposition to France's puppet Vichy government, which found him guilty of treason in absentia, De Gaulle organized Free French forces in London and rallied French colonies to the Allied cause. His forces fought successfully in North Africa, and in 1944 he was named head of the French government in exile. On August 26, 1944, De Gaulle triumphantly led Allied forces in the liberation of Paris. He later went on to serve momentarily as the provisional president of France and, from 1958 to 1969, as the leader of the Fifth Republic.