Sigmas of History: Charles de Gaulle

The case for the French hero of the Second World War

In which a reader proposes a former French leader as a potential Sigma of historical note.

Your work has given me the key to understanding Charles de Gaulle, France's last great president.

Everything about him is pure Sigma: from declaring, all alone in an office in 1940 London that he was France, from his exit after a failed referendum in 1969 with a very terse statement. Also worth noting that the Constitution of the 5th Republic was perfectly tailored just for him.

He was feared and despised by most of the French political establishment and part of the military, his original corps. And every time I see someone hating him with a burning and irrational passion, they are always Gamma or Delta.

If you want to learn more, I recommend "les chênes qu'on abat" by André Malraux.

Malraux’s book was translated into English as Fallen Oaks. It was deemed significant enough that the April Letter from Paris, published monthly in The Atlantic, was dedicated to it. The book “is based on a recollective conversation that took place between Malraux and General de Gaulle during a luncheon and a long afternoon on Dec. 11, 1969, in de Gaulle's country residence at Colombey. Numerous quotes from the book which give the General's ideas about France.”

While I haven’t read the book in either French or English yet, what we do know was that de Gaulle, unlike every other French post-WWII leader, “was a man of strict principle, a devout Catholic and also devoted to his wife Yvonne.”

I don’t think we have considered nearly enough information to make any sort of conclusive judgment, especially since his moral rectitude makes it difficult for us to determine his sexual status. However, there are hints that he was popular with women, as his defeated rival in the 1954 election specifically concocted a set of policies intended “to break de Gaulle's near monopoly of the women's vote.”

And, of course, his insistence on establishing France as a nuclear power in possession of its own “force de frappe” in defiance of the Anglo-American establishment, combined with the way in which he was cast aside by the populace once his unique services were no longer required is also indicative of de Gaulle being a Sigma rather than an Alpha.

However, it may be the photos of de Gaulle that are most convincing. His eyes, in particular, show the same sort of wary, yet prideful detachment that can be observed in the portraits of Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, whose Sigma credentials are impeccable as well as in pictures of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

It would seem to be more than a bit of a stretch to suggest that SSH rank can, even in part, be determined by the eyes, and yet, certain patterns in this regard appear to be taking form in our analyses.