Charles de Gaulle

Charles Andre Joseph Marie de Gaulle born on November 22, 1890 was a statesman who led the Free French Forces during WWII. He founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and was president of France from 1959 to 1969.
He participated in the liberation of Paris and he always insisted tht France be considered as France only and treated as a power. He promoted French interests that lead to confrontations with Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. He refused to participate in the D-Day landings in June 19444.
He obtained a permanent seat for Franc on the Untied Nations Security Council in 1945 and was prime minister in the French Provisional Government for one year. In 1958 De Gaulle was elected President of France ad his administration asserted that France was a major power and should not rely on the US for security and prosperity. He oversaw the development of French atomic weapons and withdrew France from NATO. He continually vetoed Britain's entry in to the European Community.
During 1958 through 1962 De Gaulle oversaw economic measure to revitalize the country. He issued a new franc and continued to rebuff the United States and the Soviet Union. He encouraged a free Europe and worked toward a united European nation. He built the Franco-German cooperation as the cornerstone of the European Economic Community and in January 1963 German and France signed a friendship treaty (Elyse Treaty). De Gaulle reduced dollar reserves an traded them back to the US for gold cutting off US economic domination in France.
DeGaulle worked to end the war in Algeria with somewhat vague reasoning, covered up the Paris massacre of 1961, and was targeted by the resistance group Organisation de l'armee secrete. Several assassination attempts were made on his life. In 1961 de Gaulle managed a cease fire in Algeria. De Gaulle placed an arms embargo against Israel, provided covert support to the breakaway provinces in Nigeria (Biafra), and provided more harm than good to the Nigerian people. He caused a rift in relations with Canada by promising to "free" French Canada.
De Gaulle married Yvonne Vedrus and they had three children one who had Downs's syndrome and whom he adored. He died from a ruptured blood vessel on November 9, 1970 t 79. Currently De Gaulle's family home is the Charles de Gaulle Museum.