On December 1, in a grand ceremony at the
Consulate General of France in New York, I was awarded the rank of chevalier (knight) of the Légion d'Honneur, France's highest civilian decoration.
The medal was presented to me by Jérémie Robert, France's consul general, on behalf of President Emmanuel Macron.
In the ceremony, which can be viewed here in a video....
Consul Robert presented me with this honor, telling guests:
- "Your talent has served you well, as a foreign correspondent, a political author and a commentator. It has also been vital to your ability to explain French society, culture and politics to your countrymen and women here in the US, which is something you have done ceaselessly and with great finesse throughout your life, and career. France is deeply grateful to you for that. Dear David, for your long standing friendship with our country and your lifelong commitment to promoting better understanding between the people of France and the United States, it is an honor to bestow the title of Chevalier in the Legion of Honor upon you today. »
In response, I observed...
- "It's difficult to express the depths of my feelings for France and the French people….In this Age of Divergence (probably the title of my next book!) I am aware of the importance of cultivating greater understanding between the people, if not always the government of both countries. It is therefore my mission to promote a better understanding of French culture, society and the common ends that our two peoples had from the time when France came to the aid of the American revolutionaries to gain our freedom. from Great Britain. And now I have this symbol of what we share in common ... truly a great honor indeed.
This was followed by my wife, Pamela Title, said:
- "I guess there is no one who understands more than I just how deeply David feels about France and its people...Walking through Paris with David is a stroll through the history and culture of a magical land, with the best possible guide....."
The ceremony continued with a tribute from Laetitia Garriott de Cayeux, CEO of Global Space Ventures and co-chair Entrepreneurs for Biden & Women for Biden:
- By the time I first came to know David some twenty years ago, David was already among a very small group of widely recognized scholars on French-American relations. He had co-authored a book with a long-time head of French intelligence. One of his students briefly at Science Po, was even Francois Delattre, the youngest French ambassador appointed to the United States.....When he arrived in Paris as CBS News correspondent just as François Mitterrand was arriving for his first term as president, he was amply prepared to translate French society into terms an American audience could embrace. These were complex times. Bombs were exploding across Paris, there were conflicts in the last parts of French-speaking Africa and the Middle East. And when Mitterrand named four French communist party members to his cabinet, panicking President Ronald Reagan who sent his vice president George H. W. Bush racing to Paris to make sure France wasn't shipping NATO secrets to Moscow, David was in the Elysée courtyard to report Mitterrand's assurances…hold your friends close and your enemies closer.
Laetitia concluded by reading a letter from Patrice de Beer, longtime Le Monde bureau chief in Washington and London, which said in part:
-
Tout d’abord je tiens à te féliciter, en tant qu’ami et ancien collègue journaliste, pour la Légion d’honneur qui t’est décernée aujourd’hui.
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Elle ne pourrait être mieux méritée. Et là, ce n’est plus l’ami, mais le journaliste, qui le dit. Excellent connaisseur de la France, celle d’aujourd’hui comme celle à la longue histoire....pour le meilleur et pour le pire.....
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Ta connaissance de la diplomatie dans le temps long, tes recherches historiques sur les frontières.... montrent chez toi un intérêt en profondeur, doublé d’une amitié. Mais une amitié qui sait aussi être critique, qui peut aussi nous rappeler que la France n’est pas uniquement ce pays «que le monde entier nous envie» comme s’en rengorgent trop souvent nos grands esprits, mais un pays qui a aussi ses faiblesses, ses défauts, le principal d’entre eux n’étant guère la modestie...
To read the full transcript of the ceremony, you may have a look at my Substack page:
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Meanwhile!
Chronicling how we have arrived here is the heart of my latest book:
A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars That Still Might Happen
Published by Pegasus, distributed by Simon & Schuster.
At the same time, there is the remarkable 12-episode
podcast that I narrate:
A Red Line in the Sand
From Evergreen Podcasts, executive produced by Gerardo Orlando with producer Isabel Robertson. It's available on Apple, Spotify or wherever you hear podcasts.
And The Reviews !
Sunday Morning, p.1 of the first
Washington Post Book World of 2021
“A book with broad ambitions, [and] a thorough primer on conflict or potential conflict zones around the globe, from North Korea to Iran to the eastern provinces of Congo. Along the way, Andelman weaves into the narrative several episodes from his remarkable journalistic career. A commendable work."
NBC's Tom Brokaw observes:
“As we are learning every day, the world is an ever more dangerous place, on a hair trigger from East to West, North to South. David Andelman, one of our most experienced national security journalists, gives us a timely, insightful analysis of the dangers and prospective solutions in this very welcome book.”
TUTTI QUANTI
Meanwhile, I will continue to write regularly for CNNOpinion and for NBCNewsThink from Paris, New York and a host of other places across the globe...exploring many of the critical issues of our times.
And on occasion I appear on CNN broadcasts as well.
.
Finally, for those who haven't followed me diligently on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, here's your chance!
Best regards,
David