General Charles de Gaulle once described himself as a “bad weather friend” of the United States, which implied that in “better weather” he could go his own way, leave NATO’s integrated military command, and behave as some kind of bridge between East and West. De Gaulle’s policy of detente towards the Soviet Union, coming years before Nixon and Kissinger tried it, personified France’s desire to “exist” diplomatically on its own and to maximize its room for maneuver with the US.