Post by Maud Guillaumin
Founder, History Off Script | Exploring the Decisions That Shaped the Modern World. Award-winning Documentary Film Director - Journalist - Author - Speaker. Last book “Le Baron Noir de la Dissolution” Nouveau Monde ed.
🇲🇫 On Bastille Day, here's a little-known chapter of French diplomacy. Who convinced France to send the Mona Lisa to the United States? Most people assume it was André Malraux the famous writer and Charles de Gaulle's minister. It wasn't. The driving force was Jackie Kennedy. But this wasn't simply an art exhibition. Behind the scenes, President Charles de Gaulle saw the visit as an opportunity to strengthen the Franco-American relationship at a critical moment in the Cold War. His hope? That this symbolic gesture of cultural diplomacy might also help France's strategic ambitions—including greater American support for its independent nuclear program. A masterpiece became an instrument of soft power. On France's national day, it's worth remembering that diplomacy is sometimes conducted not only through treaties and summits, but also through works of art. 🎥 I tell the full story in my first YouTube episode on History Off Script. TUESDAY 21TH JULY ! Can cultural diplomacy still influence geopolitics today, or are strategic interests always the decisive factor?
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