NO BIG DEAL

August 22, 1962

Paris, France

Getting shot at is getting to be boring for President Charles De Gaulle. Today was the third time extremists have attempted to assassinate the leader of France. They raked his automobile with machine gun fire. He was seen in the back seat, unruffled, as all around him victims and onlookers took cover, screaming in abject terror.

But seriously…

May 6, 2024

Charles de Gaulle was one tough guy.

He was wounded three times in World War I; made five escape attempts from prisoner-of-war camps; and was pronounced presumed dead twice.

And he was just getting started.

After the war he served as president of France.

No less than fourteen postwar assassination attempts on made onhim.

In the August 1962 attempt, he told the trembling prime minister Georges Pompidou,

“Those people shoot like pigs!”

Source

Leadership in War, Andrew Roberts