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Article: Children of '68: de Gaulle restored order, but the radicals won.(History)
- Article from:
- The American Conservative
- Article date:
- June 16, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 The American Conservative LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IN ONE CORNER, a 77-year-old general from an old aristocratic family, a war hero, and the ruler of his country for the past ten years. In the other, a red-headed young anarchist, preaching the language of liberation and revolution.
Charles de Gaulle was portrayed by the 1968 rioters in Paris as a right-wing reactionary--an old fuddy-duddy hopelessly out of touch with the spirit of the times. Daniel "Dany le Rouge" Cohn-Bendit, unofficial leader of the student rioters, was billed as the radical "progressive." But 40 years on, it's clear that the real hero of 1968--and the man whom history has totally vindicated--was de Gaulle.
The French president was no ...