Charles de Gaulle was a French general, statesman, and veteran of World War I and World War II. He led the Free French Forces during World War II and later served as France's president, 1944-1945; prime minister, 1958-1959; and minister of defense, 1958-1959, before founding the French Fifth Republic and serving as its first president, 1959-1969. De Gaulle died in 1970. Jacques Hardre (1915-1983) was a faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1945-1977, serving as both professor of French and chair of the Department of Romance Languages. Hardre was born in Dinan, France, but spent much of his childhood in Greensboro, N.C. He served in the 129th Infantry Regiment of the French Army at the outbreak of World War II before joining the First Armored Division of de Gaulle's Free French Forces in London, England, for the remainder of the war. Hardre wrote numerous books and articles concerning French culture, history, and literature, and received many honors, including the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor. He died in 1983 in Chapel Hill, N.C. The collection consists of a matted letter written by Charles de Gaulle in July 1969 to Jaques Hardre. In the letter, de Gaulle expressed his appreciation for Hardre's earlier correspondence, which apparently talked about the anniversary of de Gaulle's historic World War II radio address of 18 June 1940 and enclosed a copy of Hardre's book, (1969). La France et sa civilisation
