Apparently M. le President is as big a Lafayette fan as Yours Truly,AFP reports:
WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush rolls out the red carpet next week for French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, eager for their views on Iran's nuclear program and Russia.I wish they were visiting the homes of Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, as well, both friends of the French Enlightenment--fittingly, Monroe's townhouse serves today as the Arts Club of Washington. Of course, Lafayette lived at Mount Vernon, and there is a key to the Bastille in a glass case there, presented by the Marquis who liberated the prison...
The high-stakes week of diplomacy, which will also see Bush host Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, comes as Washington seeks more sanctions against Tehran and worries about the health of democratic reforms in Moscow.
Bush will host his French counterpart at the White House on Tuesday for an official dinner, then squire him on Wednesday to the Mount Vernon estate of the first US president, George Washington.
The two leaders were expected to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Marquis de Lafayette, the French soldier and diplomat who played a key role in the American revolution.