US President Barack Obama and French President François Hollande toured Thomas Jefferson’s plantation estate on Monday in a show of solidarity for Franco-American ties that have endured for more than two centuries, despite the occasional tempest.
The visit to Monticello, home to America’s third president, served to showcase a relationship that stretches back to the founding of the United States in the late 18th century, an alliance still strong despite spats over US eavesdropping and trade talks with the European Union.
“The NSA scandal has left a very bitter residue in this relationship but there is also a sense of letting bygones be bygones,” media reports.
“They are looking to what unites them – they’re finding common ground in a strong and steadfast relationship that goes back 200 years. It’s not for nothing that Obama took Hollande to Monticello – the home Jefferson, who was an avid Francophile and one of the earliest US envoys to France,” he said.
“Thomas Jefferson represents what’s best in America, but as we see as we travel through his home, what he also represents is the incredible bond and the incredible gifts that France gave to the United States, because he was a Francophile through and through,” Obama told reporters.
Obama said the house also represents the complicated history of the United States since “slaves helped to build this magnificent structure”.
“It’s a reminder for both of us that we are in a continuous fight on behalf of the rights of all peoples,” Obama said.
Hollande noted the significant role played by a French general, the Marquis de Lafayette, in helping George Washington defeat the British colonial power.
“We were allies in the time of Jefferson and Lafayette. We are still allies today. We were friends at the time of Jefferson and Lafayette and will remain friends forever,” he said.
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