Jerry Lewis?

Bridget Bardot when she was in her prime.

On second thought its got to be Inspector Clouseau

Off the top of my head:

Voltaire
Monet
Toulouse-Lautrec
Debussy
Berlioz (I think)
Erik Satie
Olivier Messaien (not really in the same class with the others, but a favorite of mine; he is also proof that one can be conservative AND an avant-gardist.)

Too bad Django Reinhardt was born in Belgium!

Pepe Le Peu.

Henri Petain. Greatest might be a bit of a stretch, although in French terms the argument can be made, but without a doubt Marshall Petain is the most nearly archetypal Frenchman in history.

I suppose if you don't want to be too fussy the French could claim Charlemagne.

Jeanne d'Arc, anyone?

St. Therese of Liseux?

Curie worked in Paris, and her husband was French if I recall correctly, but was herself Polish.

foucalt :)

Rene Descartes and Cardinal Richelieu.

Jacques Barzun

Do Cartier and de Champlain get knocked down for what Canada has become?

Matt:

Drat! He's one.

The Cardinal does have a great line:

"If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something in them to hang him."

How about Rene Descarte, Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, and Pierre-Simon Laplace?

I had also forgotten about Emile Zola and Moliere; rather than those two comedians I've never heard of, how about Max Linder, the guy who inspired the style of Charlie Chaplin? Without Chaplin, the movies might not have been recognized as an artform (and possibly never risen above the status of a vaudevillian sideshow), and without Linder, you arguably do not have Chaplin. He's obscure, but he well may belong on this list.

John:

Chaplin was a commie.

John Friggin' Kerry

Leaving Napoleon off the list is like airbrushing Sartre's cigarette.

Bob:

We don't subscribe to the "evil but great" school.

Louis XIV?

And I second the vote for Cardinal Richelieu.

We're with D'Artagnan.

OJ: Napoleon was not evil by the standards of the day. He was no Washington of course but not bad for a dictator, all in all.

If you're gonna nominate Cardinal Richelieu, you better be careful who shows up to accept it, or you could end up giving the award to the nefarious Ron Higgins, professional Cardinal Richelieu impersonator.

Given how much slack the US cuts them because of DeGrasse and Lafayette, they should probably make the list.

carl:

Hard for anyone to recover from supporting the French Revolution

Bob:

Of course he was, that's why we fought him.

how about Alfred Dreyfus?

And did business with him.

Pierre Duhem

Captain Jean Danjou.

oj: I'd love The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity

Matt:

It's yours if you don't mind a used copy and you email your address to me.

robert:

Being a victim doesn't make you great either.

Bernard-Henri Levy

OK, here's one: Nicolas Appert, the inventor of canned food. He did not can anything himself, but the process he developed (and for which he received a 12,000 franc reward from Napoleon) served as the basis for subsequent canners to this day. In terms of convenience and quality of life, very few people have had their work impact so many as he - plus it's amusing to think (despite the nation's continuous mocking of fast food) that Spam and Spaghettios indirect owe their existence to a Frenchman.

Eugene:

He's a nutter.

They never even figured out to put beer in them.

Louis Lumiere invented color photography. (Here's a sample)

My nominees are:

Serge Gainsbourg

and

Andre the Giant

Of course he was, that's why we fought him.

What d'ya mean, "we", white man?

David:

Conservatives.

Francois Fenelon?

Timothy:

Too Simone Weil.

William the Conqueror?

Mike:

Harold was his better:

http://www.brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/375/

Beaumarchais--thanks for the gunpowder

the Marquis de Lafayette

Capt. Alfred Dreyfus

Serge Klarsfeld and his wife Beate

St. Louis

Charlemagne, but he's as much German as French in reality, Aix-la-Chapelle is after all Aachen now.

There must be more....

re: John Barrett, Jr--Django, no but Grappelli, perhaps?

http://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr_doc/liste_compagnons.pdf

About a 1000 here...some not French, (cf. Ike, WSC, King George VI) but most of them heros and heroines, some martyrs

ahhh..yes, here's one forgotten

Georges Clemanceau

and another

the Comte de Rochambeau

Clemenceu caused WWII, the Cold War and the War on Terror.

Jospeh Pujol.

Henri Poincare.

Léon Walras born December 16, 1834, Évreux, France, and died January 5, 1910, Clarens, near Montreux, Switzerland. He was an economics professor at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland whose work Elements d'economie politique pure (1874–77; Elements of Pure Economics) was one of the first comprehensive mathematical analyses of general economic equilibrium. Walras was hailed by Joseph Schumpeter as "the greatest of all economists," and is widely and rightfully regarded as the father of general equilibrium theory. Walras also developed the idea of marginal utility and is thus considered one of the founders of the "marginal revolution. Waalras demonstrated that a market economy could reach a general equilibrium. This means that Marx' theory of the "contradictions of capitalism" that must lead to its collapse and the socialist revolution, is just plain wrong. It also meant that Waalras lived and died in obscurity. General equilibrium theory was not revived until the 1950s. "Waalras' disciple Vilfredo Pareto, who was also a very innovative economist, succeded to his chair at Lausanne.

Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, b. in the Château de la Brède near Bordeaux, 18 January, 1689; d. at Paris, 10 February, 1755, wrote "L'Esprit des lois," (2 vols., Geneva, 1748). The success of the book was enormous, its political influence world-wide. The early American statesmen were very familiar with "L'Esprit des lois" and from it (XI, vi) derived much of their idea of federal government. the Founding Fathers were all enthusiastic readers of Montesquieu, whom they regarded as the ultimate authity in political science, and they quoted him extensively in works such as the Federalist.

In "L'Esprit des lois" which Montesquieu published after twenty years of labour, he declared himself in favour of separating the executive, legislative, and judiciary powers (XI, vi), condemned slavery and torture, and advocated gentler treatment of criminals, toleration in religious belief, and freedom of worship. "Something", he says, "must be fixed and permanent, and religion is that something." He says again, more clearly: "What a wonderful thing is the Christian religion! it seems to aim only at happiness in a future life, and yet it secures our happiness in this life also." He does not dream of separating Church and State, nor of subjecting the former to the latter: "I have never claimed that the interests of religion should give way to those of the State, but that they should go hand in hand."

Frederic Bastiat (1801-50), described by Schumpeter, nearly a century after his death as "the most brilliant economic journalist who ever lived." Orphaned at the age of nine, Bastiat tried his hand at commerce, farming, and insurance sales. In 1825, after he inherited his grandfather's estate, he quit working, established a discussion group, and read widely in economics. Bastiat led the free-trade movement in France from its inception in 1840 until his untimely death in 1850. Most of his writing was done in the years directly before and after the Revolution of 1848.

Bastiat was supremely effective at popularizing free market economics. Bastiat also emphasized the unintended consequences of government policy (he called them the "unseen" consequences). Friedrich Hayek credits Bastiat with this important insight: if we judge economic policy solely by its immediate effects, we will miss all of its unintended and longer-run effects and will undermine economic freedom, which delivers benefits that are not part of anyone's conscious design. Much of Hayek's work, and some of Milton Friedman's, was an exploration and elaboration of this insight.

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (February 2, 1754 - May 17, 1838) French diplomat, worked successfully from the regime of Louis XVI, through the revolution and then under Napoleon I, Louis XVIII and Louis-Philippe. Talleyrand was the main French negotiator at the Congress of Vienna and in that same year he signed the Treaty of Paris. It was due, in part, to his skills that the terms of the treaty were remarkably lenient towards France: the country returned to its 1792 boundaries with no reparations.

Tally rand was famous for his reparte. In March 1804 he was involved in the kidnapping and execution of the Duke of Enghien; in response to those events he made what was perhaps his most famous quip: "That was worse than a crime; it was a mistake." When asked what he did during the Revolution, he replied: "I survived."

His continuous intriguing and plotting caused Napoleon to tell him: "you are merde in a silk stocking."

Louis Victor Pierre Raymond duc de Broglie, b: 15 Aug 1892, Dieppe, France d: 19 March 1987, Paris, Francewrote the shortest PhD disertation in history -- and won a Nobel prize in physics for it. He realized that Planck had demonstrated that E=Plancks Constant*nu (sorry no greek letters) and Einstein had shown that E=m*C^2, so Plancks Constant*nu = m*C^2, and he could calculate the wavelength of matter and demonstrate that waves and particles are different ways of looking at the same thing. This insight led the way to things like the electron microscope.

Gtg. I got Panhard and Pugeot. Can i claim Bugatti?

"Beaumarchais--thanks for the gunpowder."

P.S. Dupont

Veuve Clichot and Dom Perignon -- they were people first.

DeGrasse died in 1788, I don't think he supported the French Revolution (of course it was his good fortune, and America's, that his opponent was Graves--if George Rodney or Samuel Hood had commanded the British fleet at Virginia Capes history might have turned out quite differently).

How about Louis Pasteur?

Was Louis Pasteur French? If so, every time you wash your hands in the bathroom it's a tribute to him.

Actually, oj, I think Wilhelm II was the primum mobile behind those events; had he not decided to test the mettle of the German state, we might have been born in a much quieter century.

Clemanceau certainly overreacted in his demands at Versailles, but let's give blame where blame is due. Even without the punishment of Versailles, the Germans weren't ready to forgive and forget their ambitions.

Wilhemine Germany had its share of despicable actors. Ludendorff, after all, both sent Lenin to Russia on the sealed train AND supported Hitler in the Beer hall Putsch--now if you want a villain....

Old George isnt the only one who botched the Middle East either...the lads at Whitehall who didnt savvy the Arabs, and thought Sykes-Picot was a good idea share blame there. As does, IMHO, the later Labour Gov't. of Attlee for essentially rejecting the Zionist policy implemented in the Balfour Declaration and caving to the Arab extremists on the Palestine policy gave those same extremists hope they could drive the Israelis into the sea and we see how well that worked out for all the Arab states.

I see Pasteur is in the Frenchies' own list--that, I concede, immediately disqualifies him.

oooops

cornet:

Was Wilhelm at Versailles?

Jacques Ellul

Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834) invented the Jacquard Loom which is capable of weaving complex designs without human intervention. The operation of the loom is controlled by patterns of holes in a string of cards that are fed into the loom.

Later in the 19th century, Charles Babbage and then Herman Hollerith, modified the Jacquard cards, which evolved into the punch cards used to control early mainframe computers.

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) learned watchmaking from his father but was schooled in the humanities at the insistence of his mother. By the early 1760s PSD’s writings on the national economy had drawn the attention of intellectuals like Voltaire and Turgot. His book Physiocracy advocated low tariffs and free trade among nations and influenced Adam Smith.

Louis XV suppressed PSD’s publications. In 1773 he left France to become tutor to Poland’s Prince Royal. He returned to France to serve Louis XVI, who had appointed Turgot finance minister, but both men were dismissed for criticizing the spending habits of Marie Antoinette. Later PSD was instrumental in negotiations leading to the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution, earning him the gratitude of Thomas Jefferson and a patent of nobility from the king.

In 1790 PSD was elected president of the French National Assembly. But in 1797 his advocacy of moderate reform earned him the enmity of more radical elements and he was imprisoned twice and narrowly escaped execution. In 1799 PSD raised funds from several investors and departed for America to speculate in land. His friend, Thomas Jefferson, warned him away from the venture however, and instead the family took up son Eleuthere Irenee’s plan to make gunpowder.

In 1802 PSD returned to Napoleonic France to resume his political career. He was instrumental in negotiating the Louisiana Purchase for the United States, and in 1814 helped lead the movement to banish Napoleon to Elba. The next year, during Napoleon’s short lived return, PSD fled again to America, settling with his family on the Brandywine. He died on August 7, 1817, after exhausting himself putting out a fire at the powder mills.

PSD's son E.I. du Pont (1771-1834) broke ground on July 19, 1802, for the company that bears his name. He had studied advanced explosives production techniques with Antoine Lavoisier, and used this knowledge build the United States' first powder mill.

Hmmm....starting to get a bit thin with all the excellent suggested candidates. How about Raymond Aron?

If a list is drawn up 30 years from now, maybe Sabine Herold.

Augustin-Louis Cauchy, and Fourier mathematicians
Henri Poincere, father of chaos theory

Antoine Lavoisier--father of modern chemistry

Antoine d'Exupery?

General Joffre and/or General Gallieni?

This is all good but tres, tres heavy. How about another tack -- such as famous French chefs. Having eaten at her terrific restaurant a few years ago, I nominate Helene Darroze. From Zagat:

HÉLÈNE DARROZE

food rating 24
decor 22
service 20
cost €96

6th arrondissement
4, rue d'Assas (Rennes/Sèvres-Babylone) Paris 014 2220011

It may be “rare for a female chef to reach this level of excellence in French restaurants”, but Hélène Darroze has made the ascent, serving up “cutting-edge” New French-Southwestern “food from heaven” at her dining room with “warm contemporary decor” in the 6th; a few pessimists pout the place is “seriously pretentious”, especially the “erratic servers” who swing from “oblivious” to “professional”; but most agree that if “it’s not the best, it’s certainly in the running.”

Jim:

But French food sucks.

I can't really think of candidates to add to the list, but I'm afraid that several of those suggested above are definite non-starters:

Alfred Dreyfus accomplished nothing beyond sparking off a thoroughly squalid (and lengthy) quarrel among the French, not a particularly difficult thing to do.

Henri Petain was unusually sordid, even for a Frenchman.

As one of the major architects of the Thirty Years War, Cardinal Richelieu qualifies for the "evil but great" category. While I'm not a big fan of Germany, I don't think it deserves depopulation.

Ditto for Louis XIV. Not only did he systematically grind down his subjects to one of the lowest standards of living in Europe, but the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes is one of the most heinous political acts in the country's history -- and considering that the country in question is France, that is saying rather a lot.

Napoleon admittedly looks rather tame in comparison with Stalin and Mao, but it should never be forgotten that he was a pioneer in the creation of the modern totalitarian state.

Mr. Judd: Does this thread set some sort of record for the number of posts? If I didn't know better I'd think y'all must have a soft spot for the French.

Buttercup:

Several months back I hads the temerity to suggest that our casualties in Iraq were rather minimal by historical standards and several Leftie blogs went bananas. That one had a lot of comments.

Josh:

Quite right on all.

Does psychologist Jean Piaget count? Although he was born in the French region of Switzerland, he did most of his research work in Paris on the behavioral and reasoning patterns of children. One of the more interesting subjects of my Psych 103 class in college.

(Anyway, he's more French than my original choice of Jerry Lewis, though I think Mr. Lewis still represents the French mindset better.)

John:

But he was wrong.

"Mr. Judd: Does this thread set some sort of record for the number of posts?"

I think we hit 140 last weekend on Evolution.

What about William the Conquerer. Norman, but still born in France.

D.:

We're pro-Harold.

I suppose if we're going to talk about Poincare and Fourier and de Broglie and Pasteur and Curie, somebody should nominate the Montgolfier brothers.

And if (Army brat) Bruce Bochy counts, then surely (native Californian but son of French immigrants) Frenchy Bordagaray must be in as well. Much more impressive mustache, anyway.

What about Louis the Pious and Joan of Arc?

Thanks for bringing up Frenchy Bordagaray, one of the great baseball "characters" from the '30s, a decade simply stuffed with them. After being fined for spitting on an umpire, Frenchy had this statement for the press: "The penalty is more than I expectorated."

Timothy:

The wrong side won.

Henri Petain was unusually sordid, even for a Frenchman.

Making him the most French of Frenchmen.

Also, Here is the infamous "any casualties" post that, with 250 comments, is the most commented on post at BrothersJudd, and my personal favorite.

Random Lawyer: interesting you should nominate Frenchy Bordagaray but not this miraculous duo :

John "Frenchy" Fuqua and Franco Harris.

OK, how about this guy? I understand he's going to be portrayed in a major Broadway musical later this year.

All right, let's try
that one again.

I'd say that counts as taunting us a second time...

Hands down, it's got to be Maurice G. Dantec.

Absolutely no contest.

Charlotte Cordet (sp) Marat's femme fatale.

Tom:

That one comes close.

Hillaire Belloc was born in France. Take that, Bruce Bochy!

Calvin.

OJ--

Didn't see him on the list. Sorry.

Jon:

Skunked! Who'da think it. Send your address, I'll send a book.

Michel Platini

oj- point taken re: Versialles, as I noted, I just happen to disagree with apportioning all the blame for those events on GC--esp. the cold War for which the General Staube was certainly more culpable--the French made a wonderful career of producing apologists for Leninism and Stalinism, but the Cold War was not primarily one of the fruits of the poisoned tree of Versailles, and I think the corruption in the Germanic zeitgeist that produced the Nazis would have found fruit even if the aliies had been lenient.

Regarding Dreyfus--yes, I suppose he may be trivialized, but I am looking at the fulness of the man--not merely a hero for suffering as he did on false accusations, he was also a capable officer in his later career, reenlisting in the army 10 years after his retirement and fighting in the hellhole of Verdun for a country that had abused him. Such a patriot and a brave man is worthy of respect, even if he is not great, he may at least be called good...and how many Frenchmen would we give that honor to?

A settlement at Versailles that liberated the colonies and gave them self-determination changes everything.

Minor correction on Talleyrand: Though he did have many good quips, he probably did not say, "C'est pire qu'une crime, c'est une faute." (It's worse than a crime, it's a blunder.) The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (3rd edition) ascribes it to one Antoine Boulay de la Meurthe.

By the way, I think it speaks well of the French that they do not include that great butcher, Napoleon, in top ten.

How about St. Francis Xavier and St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Joseph-Marie, Comte de Maistre, was an important thinker and theologian, but I imagine he would gladly give up his spot to a saint.

BTW Comte de Maistre was Savoyan (or Piedmontian), not French.

"A settlement at Versailles that liberated the colonies and gave them self-determination changes everything."

Agreed; but there wasn't a statesman in Europe and darn few in this country who'd have done that.

"A settlement at Versailles that liberated the colonies and gave them self-determination changes everything."

Agreed; but there wasn't a statesman in Europe and darn few in this country who'd have done that.

isn't it sad that a bunch of Yanks who dont particularly fancy le nation Francais can come up with a better list than the French themselves?

Pierre, the builder of bridges.

OJ:

Raymond Aron

OJ:

Hell, why not go WAY back and nominate King Clovis?

Matt:

I'll give you Aron--send me your address.

Matt:

Wasn't even a France yet, was there?

Well, a bunch of Frankish states. Clovis was responsible for converting the Franks to Christianity. Hah!

Who better to represent France in all of her lunacy than the Marquis de Sade?

OJ -- Not all French food today sucks. There are a lot of restaurants -- here and in Paris -- where the waiters are not prissy and the food is not pretentious and heavy and laden with gloppy sauces. Have you had bad experiences with snooty tuxedo-wearing waiters who address you as Monsieur? Not my kind of place either. We've got to get you down to NYC. Have you had too may dinners at Praire Home Companion's Cafe Boeuf? (Yeah, I know Garrison Keillor hates Bush, but his non-political stuff, can be terrific.) Here's one script:

http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/20031108/scripts/boeuf.shtml

Café Boeuf
Saturday, November 8, 2003
GK: This portion of our show is brought to you by Café Boeuf of Charlottesville, with your host, Henri.

TR (FRENCH): Char-loh-vee-ya.

GK: Pardon me?

TR (FRENCH): It is pronounced Char-loh-vee-ya.

GK: I thought it was named for an English princess, Charlotte.

TR (FRENCH): Actually, she was French. She passed for English by wearing brown and not using perfume. But she was French. So it's Char-loh-veeya.

GK: But I'm not French. So it's Charlottesville.

TR (FRENCH): C'est la vie.

GK: I thought you said it was Charl-oh-veeya.

TR (FRENCH): (FRENCH SHRUG AND COMPLAINT) So ---- we are holding a table for you for dinner?

GK: I can't. I'm doing the show.

TR (FRENCH): The reservation is for ten p.m.

GK: Dinner at 10? That's late.

TR (FRENCH): You're not in the Midwest now, monsieur. This is Charl-oh-veeya. It's not Lynchburg.

GK: Okay, whatever you say.

TR (FRENCH) Smoking or non-smoking?

GK: Non-smoking.

TR (FRENCH): We do not have a non-smoking section. We are French. French people smoke. Especially in Virginia.

GK: Okay. Smoking then.

TR (FRENCH): Good choice. And do you wish the menu in English or French?

GK: Is there a difference?

TR (FRENCH): Between English and French???? Yes. Certainmentl. (*FRENCH KNOWING LAUGHTER) The French menu has things like (FRENCH). Or the (FRENCH).

GK: These are like brains and the lungs, am I right?

TR (FRENCH): Yes. And bladders.

GK: Bladders?

TR (FRENCH): Goose bladders. A great delicacy.

GK: I had no idea.

TR (FRENCH): Almost as good as goose livers.

GK: Remind me to try it someday.

TR (FRENCH): The goose is forced to drink a bottle of fine Bourdeaux ---- a 1988 (FRENCH NAME) ---- and the goose dies happy and his bladder is lightly sauteed in (FRENCH WORD) ------

GK: This (FRENCH WORD) ---- is this like butter?

TR: What about my wife's suitcase?

GK: No, no, no.......

TR (FRENCH): My wife's suitcase is in your bedroom?

GK: Okay then. Dinner tonight at 10.

TR (FRENCH): I demand satisfaction, monsieur. (TWO SLAPS) You have insulted my honor. And my luggage. Forks or knives, monsieur??

GK: A message from Café Boeuf, Charlottesville.

Jim:

I don't go to restaurants.

You have to give me Montesquieu.