For U.S. Officials, France Is the Place to Be

As Chill Over Iraq War Eases, Secretaries, Generals and Justices Head Across Atlantic

U.S. envoy Craig R. Stapleton unveiled a statue of Thomas Jefferson, a monument to Jefferson's role in the U.S.-French friendship, in Paris in July 2006. On hand was then-D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams, third from right. (By Jacques Brinon -- Associated Press)

PARIS -- Donald Rumsfeld is out of the Pentagon, Nicolas Sarkozy is in the Elysee presidential palace and -- voila! -- the nearly five-year drought in official Washington visits to France is over.

With relations between Paris and Washington warming rapidly after nasty disagreements over the Iraq war, the rush is on to make up for lost time in the gilded government salons, air show chalets and scenic ports of the world's premier tourist destination.

In the last two months, Pentagon generals flocked to the biennial Paris air show, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise stopped for a port call in Cannes on the Mediterranean Sea, and four Supreme Court justices and the U.S. secretaries of state and defense arrived for official visits.

"There's a lot of interest in forming strong relations with the new leadership in France, Germany and the U.K.," Craig R. Stapleton, the U.S. ambassador here, said in a telephone interview from Maine, where he was vacationing. "At all levels -- policy, culture and business -- there is a recognition of how important the French are."

In addition, Stapleton said the high-level visits are helping dispel the "latent sense among Americans that there's an anti-American sentiment in France."

As high-level reciprocity, Sarkozy is taking his traditional August family vacation in New Hampshire on the shores of picturesque Lake Winnipesaukee. From there it was a 50-mile hop for a hamburger and hot dog lunch Saturday on the grounds of the Bush family estate at Kennebunkport, Maine.

In response to much tittering in the French news media over his decision to holiday in the United States rather than France, Sarkozy told reporters: "I came to visit the United States on holiday, on vacation, like 900,000 French do every year. It's a great country. I'm very happy to be here. The United States is a close friend of France."

Last year 3.15 million Americans visited France, making it the No. 2 tourist destination for Americans after Britain. France attracts more tourists overall than any country in the world, according to the French Tourism Ministry.

But until recent months, official Washington has been discouraged from visiting France. As defense secretary, Rumsfeld was miffed that France very loudly opposed the U.S. decision to invade Iraq, and he nixed most official military visits to France, according to Pentagon officials. He only begrudgingly attended a NATO alliance conference in Nice two years ago, officials said.

The biennial Paris Air Show -- the premier gathering of the military and civilian aviation world -- drew 27 generals and admirals as well as senior Pentagon civilians in late June, more than double the 12 or 13 who attended in 2005, according to the U.S. Embassy in Paris. Not a single senior U.S. official attended the 2003 show during the height of the verbal cold war and less than three weeks after President Bush stood on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln under a banner declaring "Mission Accomplished."

Current Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates joined the lengthening line of official visitors in late June when he attended ceremonies commemorating the World War II D-Day landing on Normandy's Omaha Beach.

"The new secretary of defense knew how important it was to come for D-Day," said Stapleton, the ambassador, who receives all high-ranking visiting U.S. dignitaries.

In an event Stapleton termed "hugely symbolic," the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise made a three-day port call to Cannes in late July, the first visit by an American warship since before the Iraq war. Just before the visit, French Rafale fighter jets landed on the nuclear-powered vessel, the first time that French fighters have ever set down on a U.S. aircraft carrier.

"Today marks an important step in our operational cooperation," the French naval chief, Adm. Alain Oudot de Dainville, said after witnessing the landings aboard the carrier.

In mid-July, Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and three associate justices attended judicial conferences and other events in Paris. It was the first time a sitting chief justice had made an official visit to France since 1799, according to U.S. Embassy records.

In June, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice conducted a two-day sojourn to Paris, a stop originally tacked onto a longer mission to the Middle East. When the main part of the trip was canceled, Rice stuck to her itinerary in France.

Joining the list of official visitors were John D. Negroponte, deputy secretary of state, and R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs.

Researcher Corinne Gavard contributed to this report.