American Presidents and Paris

Washington, Roosevelt, Kennedy: these are the names of streets, stations and hotels in Paris that capture the memory of great American presidents. Of course, there is nothing unusual about naming city spots after historical figures. Yet the connection in history between the United States and France may justify America's history being echoed in Paris.

The Rue Washington, leading onto the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe, is the location of the George Washingtonhotel in Paris. It might not seem surprising that a street in Paris should be named after the United States' capital city and first president. After all, when the "Father of America" died in 1799, Napoleon ordered ten days of mourning throughout France. Yet George Washington himself, initially a midshipman in the British navy, had been instrumental in precipitating hostilities between Britain and France in the Seven Years War (1756-63). As a young major of 22 years of age, Washington had been sent by the governor of Virginia to ask the French to retreat from some contested land. Washington's hostile actions at the head of a force of 150 men resulted in 10 Frenchmen being killed. Yet perhaps Washington's actions later in life in relation to the British served to exonerate him in the eyes of the French. Washington was a key player during the American War of Independence, which culminated in the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Not far away along the Champs-Elysees and across the river from the American church in Paris is the metro station Franklin D Roosevelt. Leading to the metro station is the avenue of the same name and near here on the rue Clement Marot is the Franklin Roosevelt hotel. The 32nd president of the United States whose name these places bear had a less ambiguous role than Washington in Franco-American relations. In spite of entering the war after France had been invaded by Germany, the United States was crucial in securing its liberation in 1944. It's easy to understand why the avenue was renamed to Franklin D Roosevelt in 1946, a year after the end of the war and Roosevelt's death. The name was changed from Avenue Victor-Emmanuel III, the Italian king who had opposed France during the war.

The United States' most famous president of the twentieth century was John F Kennedy. Along the banks of the Seine is the Avenue du President Kennedy and on it is the RER station of the same name. It is fitting that the nearby hotel on the rue de Boulainvilliers is called Eiffel Kennedy hotel, as the name sums up the interweaving of French and American strands during the Kennedy era. His wife Jackie had studied at the University of Grenoble and then the Sorbonne and graduated from an American university with a degree in French Literature. Her great-great-grandfather Michel Bouvier had been born in France. Paris was the first port of call on the Kennedys' European tour in the first year of John F's presidency. The public was impressed by Jackie's skills with the French language and knowledge of the country's history. Kennedy became immortal after his assassination in 1963 and his footprint in Paris lives on in the name of a street, a station and a hotel.