Dear Mister Secretary,

At a time when, American and French troops are once again committed side by side in several places around the world for the safeguard of freedom and law, both West Point American military Academy and Saint-Cyr French special military academy are commemorating the bicentennial of their establishment. On this occasion, I wish to tell you how much the French are attached to West Point.

Strong links have been woven across the Atlantic for two hundred years. France does not want to forget the part taken and the tribute paid, in the last century, by the officers who have come up from the ranks of the prestigious Academy to safeguard or reestablish its people's freedom.

Monsieur Donald Rumsfeld
Secrétaire à la Défense
des Etats-Unis d'Amérique

Founded on the example of the French Polytechnic school, West Point military Academy was also intended to train engineers to the military art, fortification techniques and ballistics, all knowledge necessary to the edification of a huge country pursuing its expansion westward. Then, the legendary qualities of officers trained in both our academies built up during the 19th century conflicts. Later, in a striking parallel of history, after World War II, general Dwight D. Eisenhower, instructed at West Point, and general de Gaulle, trained at Saint-Cyr, reached the highest office in their nation.

The French citizens remember all West Point officers who came on their soil to fight for their freedom, often sacrificing themselves. John J. Pershing, Douglas Mac Arthur, Georges S. Patton, Omar N. Bradley, Dwight D. Eisenhower; today these prestigious names are attributed to streets and squares in our cities. They remind us of what Europe now at peace owes to your Academy.

West Point's history, a reference of excellence in military elites training, is, as Saint Cyr's, linked to our countries' crossed destinies. Their emblems, both decorated with the Cross of our Legion of Honour, illustrate two centuries of fruitful friendship. They also concretely reveal the strong solidarity that presently unites our nations committed in the world to promote a common conception of human dignity.