The impression one receives of General de Gaulle from the description of those who know him is that of an Olympian arbiter, listening to all and judging with an irreversible firmness. On the other hand, the aloof figure, enigmatic in the presence of American Presidents, Soviet ambassadors, Algerian crowds, has been described as everything from an empiricist in politics, yet uncompromisingly principled, to an old-fashioned nationalist blind to ideologies. And speaking to a magazine editor, he once referred to himself as “the only true revolutionary in France.”
It is not impossible that all these contradictory impressions and judgments are encouraged by de Gaulle himself, who once wrote that “there can be no prestige without mystery.” And there is no question that in his case puzzlement does not weaken admiration for him or lessen the awe he inspires. For in spite of his many and surprising facets, his is a figure made of one metal, and by all accounts it is a noble one.
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