French Kiss - How the Americans and French Fell In and Out of Love During the Cold War by Steve Bassett

“French Kiss” evokes a rare look into the most threatening years of the Cold War, a parallel to today's geopolitical climate. Hundreds of interviews with those whose livelihoods depended on work at the massive Dèols-Châteauroux U.S. Air Station provide intimate details on how the Kremlin had targeted France for Soviet domination. Communist provocateurs viciously condemned the American military buildup in France. French Communists spread the Kremlin’s message over the radio, newspapers and magazines and on street corner. Every word of Lenin and Stalin was infallible. Fast forward to today’s worldwide Islamic movement, girded by the Koran’s infallibility and Allah’s sacred words, has for decades used terrorism and war to conquer and convert. Contrast, “French Kiss” a tale of hope. Black airmen were readily accepted, initial suspicion, distrust and even hatred followed a path from forbearance to friendship and even to love and marriage.