In rejoining the Atlantic Alliance’s integrated military structure, France is taking a decision that has weighty consequences because it is loaded with meaning. The low intensity of public debate raised by this decision is proof that the public have lost sight and understanding of the arguments behind General de Gaulle’s choice in 1966. Things have to be put back in their historical perspective to remind people that, at a time of great upheaval, reason and common sense were the fundamental values that guided France.