France–United States relations  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Josephine Baker dancing the charleston at the Folies Bergère in Paris for La Revue nègre in 1926. Notice the art deco background.
(Photo by Walery)

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Franco-American relations refers to interstate relations between the French Republic and the United States of America. Its groundwork was laid by the colonization of parts of the Americas by the European powers France and Great Britain.

Interwar years

During the interwar years, the two nations remained friendly. Beginning in the 1920s, U.S. intellectuals, painters, writers, and tourists were drawn to French art, literature, philosophy, theatre, cinema, fashion, wines, and cuisine. A number of American artists, such as Josephine Baker, had successes in France. Paris was also quite welcoming to Jazz music and black artists — since France, contrary to a significant part of the U.S. at the time, had no racial discrimination laws. U.S. novelists such as William Faulkner and numerous filmmakers influenced French life.

Postwar years

While occasional tensions surfaced between the governments, the French public, except for the Communists, generally had a good opinion of the United States throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s. Despite some degree of cultural friction, the United States were seen as a benevolent giant, the land of modernity, and the French youth took a taste to things American such as chewing gum, Coca-Cola, and rock'n'roll.

See also

• The Lost Generation