It almost seems like ancient history. But it was just seventeen days ago that the world watched as the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris either baffled or offended pretty much ever one who isn’t…. well… French. was it a parody of the Last supper painting – itself an inaccurate distortion of the actual Seder event. Or… was it a reenactment of several paintings of the behavior of the Greek god Dionysus? And if it was that, why did so many people not “get it?” while French people seemed to innately understand the whole thing.

In the aftermath of the Opening Ceremonies, Christians loudly objected while the Mayor of Paris blamed “far right reactionaries” for the outrage over what was, at best, confusing.

So… is there any actual truth in any of this? Anything that we can learn from it all? Is there a cultural divide or was it just satanic Hollywood influence and art nouveau schtick?

In the end, the idea that Americans are confused or have mixed reactions to the happenings in Paris is nothing new. This week in 1792, George Washington was just a few months from being unanimously elected as President. Things in American had stabilized after our Constitution had been at last ratified the year before. We had thrown off – or more accurately out – our own King. In the previous two years, newspapers had excitedly carried the reports of the French people, like us, rising up against the tyranny of the King. But this week in 1972, things would turn dark in Paris. King Louis XVI was arrested and declared an enemy of the people of France.

Americans struggled to keep up with the happenings in Paris. Our focus was on our own mint and post office, politics, the new state of Kentucky, and indeed the first US Navy frigate began her construction. The New York Stock exchange was founded and the first true political party was formed, which strongly the policies of the Federalists.

All those happenings in Paris were a long way off, across the Atlantic, and they were confusing. Weren’t we anti-monarchial? wasn’t one of the founding principles of the French revolutionaries “liberty,” just like our own revolution had been? Shouldn’t we be supportive of the French people as they had supported us? Or was this French Revolution turning too dark, and apt to give rise to violence and instability – two things the Americans had all but eliminated?

It may seem odd to us today, but this week in 1792, the French revolution was every bit as divisive and confusing to Americans as the Opening Ceremonies of the 2024 Olympics would be two hundred and thirty two years later. Almost to the day… “Claire… it’s French…”