le. This was considered by many to be the opinion of de Gaulle himself and he acted alone. In May 1968 rebellious students and striking workers brought the French economy to its knees. The students wanted de Gaulle to resign from power, and the strikers wanted better pay and labor conditions. De Gaulle miraculously persevered through this hard time. De Gaulle stood before the crowd of protesters and appealed to the nation for support against the communist conspiracy and the crowds gradually subsided over the next few weeks (Ledwidge 357).On April 27, 1969 a referendum was held. De Gaulle announced in an interview on the 10th that if he lost, he would retire. In the referendum, 52.41 percent of the votes that were cast were against de Gaulle. After the referendum, de Gaulle returned to Colombey. De Gaulle went to Ireland shortly after retreating to Colombey. While there his opponent in the referendum, Georges Pompidou, won the presidential election. De Gaulle sent him a telegram of congratulations. When de Gaulle returned to Colombey, he worked on his Memoirs of Hope. Later he paid a visit to Spain. De Gaulle died from the same fate that took his fathers life, a ruptured blood vessel on November 9 1970 at the age of 79.Charles de Gaulle served France faithlessly his entire life. His tireless efforts to preserve Frances good name during WWII and the legacy he left on the French government are a testament to that. This again is the reason I have chosen de Gaulle as my topic for the research paper. He was one of the greatest Frenchmen to ever live, but unlike other famous French heroes, like Napoleon, and Joan of Arc who died in the hands of their enemies, de Gaulle died peacefully in his own house, in the country he loved....
