I’ve never understood the general dislike of France that the United States seems to have. It is clearly not a new phenomenon. How far back does it go? Is it related to WWII or does it go back even further? I seem to recall that Thomas Jefferson was heavily criticized for his support of the country.
My guess is that it comes from the perception of French arrogance.
AKA: “They started it.”
The French, of course, were America’s staunchest friend during the revolution but clearly it didn’t last. Perhaps the antipathy is rooted in the traditional animosity between the French and the Anglo-Saxons which goes way back to the fourteenth century and the Hundred Years War. And it’s definitely a two-way street - the French have cordially detested the perfidious Anglos since at least then, and the US has always been regarded by the French as an Anglo nation. They suspect that the Brits and Yanks are working to establish dominance, primarily through the spread of the English language. French used to be the chief language of diplomacy and intercourse between nations and they bitterly resent its replacement by English.
Does anyone like the French?
Nope. Reread my post, if you don’t mind. Pay special attention to the word perception.
Monty, I understand that it may not be your own personal perception, but I was simply labelling the phenomenon you described.
Much of the modern backlash can be traced directly to Charles De Gaulle and his vision of a ‘multipolar’ world during the height of the cold war. To this end he withdrew from NATO (the military end anyway) and instituted a long standing policy of opposing US interests when it was favorable to France to do so. Locked, as we were, in a very serious ideological conflict with the other superpower of the world it seemed to some to be a bit ungrateful and tedious to have such an overly indpendent France (who also clung tiresomely to it’s colonial holdings). While they did back us in important cold war matters (the cuban missile crisis for example) many got the idea that any such support was strictly mandated by their self interests. If you contrast this relationship to the one enjoyed by the US, the UK, Canada and Australia you can see why there might be some less than positive opinions about France.
Perhaps if they washed a bit more often…
While this might have caused antipathy at the time, I hardly think that most American France-haters know or care about that era. As with any other irrational prejudice, it’s based on juvenile mischaracterizations of the ‘other’; in this case, the purported ‘arrogance’ of the French. Which really means the French do what they do and don’t care much about what America (or anybody else, I’ll warrant) thinks about them. And nothing seems to bug Americans more. *
I have to say I could not believe that dining facilities in government organizations actually renamed French fries in a supposed show of solidarity with Shrub over this moronic ‘war’. There are innumerable reasons to be ashamed and embarrassed over the war and all that surrounds it but I can’t think of a more pathetic and juvenile event than the food-renaming incident.
If people really wanted to stick it to France, they should’ve uprooted the Statue of Liberty and sent it back. I find it truly ironic that this beloved ‘symbol of America’ was a gift from the despised French.
*This broad generalization used in the same sense it was in the OP
In what way do you suppose those latter relationships are not mandated by the self-interest of the countries involved?
There were a large number of collaborators in France during World War II. The Vichy regime and the French police showed much initiative and enthusiasm in the persecution and deportation of Jews in France. After the war, a collective amnesia descended upon France and most of them escaped punishment and many became prominent politicians and wealthy businessmen.
Yes, we do.
It took us a bit over a millennium to come to that conclusion, but France is by far our best and most important ally.
Yes, I quite like them (my French-sounding username is coincidental to this, BTW)
Well, some bigots tried anyway; the site (and another with the same agenda) is gone, but I recall seeing it back in the day and feeling a deep pity for the sheer stupidity of the whole affair… oops!, I used a French word! 
Why not ?
Irrational stupidity seldom requires justification.
Dislike of France comes and goes. When I was a kid, I recall hearing about deGaulle and many of the things he did ( not just NATO, but I believe French refusal to join the European Common Market – MAD magazine had a cover picture featuring, among other things, a decaying bag of garbage labeled “ECM” with a tag tied around it ereading “deGaulle” – and his speech in Quebec with “Vive Quebec Libre”). That and the reuted French arrogance seemed to set a lot of Americans off.
All of this ended up being perpetuated by jokes about French arrogance and lack of bathing. It seemed to taper off over the years, but the recent disagreements over first the overflying for the US raid on Libya, and then with everything regarding Iraq lead to a new roubnd of French-bashing. The phrase “Cheese-eating surrender monkeys” from the Simpsons gave fresh ammunitionj to the Frenxch-bashers, and there was the idiocy about “freedom friies” and not drinking French wine or eating French cheeses. That bit about the Ferench always surrendering seems pretty new. Back in the 1960s they criticized France’s not acknowledging US help during WWII, not the fact that they surrendered. Now that’s a standard joke at the expense of the French.
I never liked any of this, which seems pretty stupid and juvenile. I visited France once as a teenager, and didn’t find them at all arrogant. When I was getting photos and permissions a couple of years bback, the Louvre was a lot more helpful and trusting than the museums in other countries.
Part of the old kingdom of Navarra is now France, part is Spain. The Borbones became kings of Spain because they had the right to the throne of Navarra (much more so than the Habsburgs, actually).
We have lots of fun taking as much money as possible from any Frenchman that comes our way, they have lots of fun taking as much money as possible from any Spaniard that goes they way.
We also enjoy conversations about how “you guys” do everything wrong, but they’re a running joke… it’s a Tradition, taking potluck shots at the neighbors.
And while we’d never admit to liking the French (they’re the neighbors, you’re not allowed to like them), we’ll be happy to ally ourselves with them whenever we are in a third country. Plus, once you manage to get the cheese at the end of the meal where it should be, instead of at the beginning, it’s pretty decent cheese…
I don’t know, perhaps you could tell me what self interest was at stake when Australia went to Vietnam with us. What windfalls are the UK getting due to their support for us in Iraq right now? I’m not suggesting that the relationship is utterly selfless but by and large it is much closer and deeper than with our other nominal allies. France could have had such a relationship with us, some say they should have given our history in the revolution, WWI and WWII but that was not desirable for them. I’m not saying that France did anything wrong, or that dislike for France is rational, I’m just giving my take on the current state of affairs.
On a recent episode of BBC’s QI, Graeme Garden described Americans as ‘Burger Eating Invasion Monkeys’, which made me chuckle.