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On April 28, 1969, President Charles de Gaulle of France picked up the telephone in his home in Colombey-les-Deux-Eglises and dictated a brief farewell statement to the Elysée Palace in Paris: “I am ceasing to exercise my functions as president of the republic. This decision takes effect today at noon.” The call signaled the end of de Gaulle’s eleven-year reign as president of the French Republic. This period witnessed the birth of the Fifth French Republic, the end of the Algerian crisis, and the exit of France from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s defense structure. It saw the development of a French nuclear arsenal and striking force, and a French drive for leadership of the developing nations in Africa and Asia. The French people reacted with optimistic anticipation of new leadership with its greater attention to pressing social and economic problems at home. Nostalgia and a sense of loss tempered their reflections upon de Gaulle and the end of a great era in French history.