American leadership 1945-2008: a survey

[Louis VI the Fat]

"Sometimes", said a French diplomat, "you want just to grasp a moment and make it last". As George Bush and the French president prepare for a mutually congratulatory meeting, the French embassy in Washington purred with self-satisfaction at the remarkable improvement in relations between America and its oldest ally. This newfound cooperation stands in marked contrast to the years before, when French diplomats were talking openly of a "malaise" in the relationship.

The French president in the quote above is not Sarkozy, but Mitterand. George Bush is Bush senior. The quote and the 'remarkable improvement' dates to 1991, based on the exemplary co-operation of the US and France in the Gulf War.
Of course, ten years later during Iraq the situation was entirely different again. And currently, with Sarkozy, foreign minister Kouchner, and other government members - all decidely pro-American as much in their heart as in their policy - the relationship has drastically changed again. Never a dull moment in French-Barbarican relations.

Adrian named this thread 'American leadership 1945-2008'. Thereby showing his immersement in a Batavian tradition. Immediately, the diference with France is obvious. One of the key elements of French relations with America is a marked determination to not take American leadership for granted.

Hence, I am not going to write a piece about American leadership and how France dealt with it. Nor should it be written. It should be 'American hegemonistic tendencies and French counter-ideologies'.
At it's simplest, the main difference in Transatlantic relations between France and other (especially Northern -) European countries is, that everywhere the left has an uneasy relationship with the US, while in France, so to does the right. Socialism and communism is a counter-ideology to US hegemony, and so is Gaullism.
Rather unanimously, American cultural, economic and military hegemony has been opposed throughout the entire post-war era. To quote an old adage: 'If it were for the Germans, the whole of Europe would speak German. If it were for the Americans, the whole world would speak English'.

The rub is, that this is not the same as anti-Americanism, or opposition to America per se. (Even if the fine distinction is overlooked as often abroad as it is shamefully trespassed in France itself)
Culturally, Jazz, Woody Allen, American literature have been embraced as much after the war as Josephine Baker was before the war. Economically, for all her statism, France clearly belongs to the capitalist world. Militarily, France never left the NATO, it left the integrated command structure. In all respects, there is a sort of tension, duality.

Of course, France is not a monolith, nor historically unchangable, or even coherent in her policies. There is a full range of traditions. Depending on time, subject or person, the US can be seen as anything from an evil imperialist power to a much admired inspiration.
I think this post will get too long if I'm to write a more specific history of French-American relations following a post-war timeline. Maybe Brenus feels like it, he loves his history and is better at it than me anyway.