The 1960’s proved to be a very difficult decade for Franco-American relations, especially during Lyndon Johnson’s term as president of the United States (November 1963-January 1969). France and America repeatedly clashed in this period, and over a wide variety of issues, such as for example the international monetary system and the role of the dollar, N.A.T.O. and the Atlantic Alliance’s nuclear policy, the Vietnam War, or West Germany’s future, etc ... In addition, it is certainly no secret that Charles de Gaulle and Lyndon Johnson strongly disliked each other.

What is surprising, however, is that both presidents only met on two occasions during Johnson’s tenure in power, and in both cases their meetings were short and not in the context of official visits: the first time was during Kennedy’s funeral in November 1963, and the second time was during Konrad Adenauer’s funeral in April 1967. Thus, if Johnson and De Gaulle’s mutual animosity was not just the product of personal encounters, this would suggest that their perceptions and misperceptions - as suggested by De Gaulle’s quote in the title – of their counterpart’s personality and motivations played a key role in their difficult and barely existing relationship.

Based on an extensive research of American and French archives, this paper will then attempt to assess to what extent Franco-American relations between 1963 and 1968 were influenced and driven by this personality clash between Johnson and De Gaulle. By doing so, this paper hopes to shed new light on this troublesome time for Franco-American relations, and focus more on the role of individuals and less on the actual crises that littered the period. Moreover, such a study of the Johnson-De Gaulle period can also suggest some answers for the wider problems between France and America. By underlining the importance of personalities, perceptions/misperceptions and lack of communication, this paper will try to suggest that Franco-American misunderstandings were and are as much a product of individuals, as they are the consequence of inherent differences between both countries, a fact which is very much in evidence in the current crisis.