Le Grand Charlie—A Bit Less Grand

“He made a mistake” —this confused admission of his followers may herald the end of the de Gaulle myth. The French role in the Middle East crisis last summer not only shocked de Gaulle’s followers; it made them aware there was something wrong with his thinking. And since the study and interpretation of the General’s psychology are major factors in French politics, everybody is trying to figure out the causes of this disastrous series of errors.

Some blame de Gaulle’s counselors for giving him wrong advice. It seems that our intelligence service felt Israel would not be able to achieve air superiority and would be forced by the Arabs to fight a long war, with the attending danger of a Vietnamese type...