Columns

French President Emmanuel Macron was offered several choices of places to visit after his duties in Washington were done. Chicago, Atlanta, and other cities were on the short list, but they had no chance to push aside New Orleans with its centuries-old ties to France.
His visit December 2 wasn’t the first time a French president came to Louisiana. Valery Giscard d’Estaing visited New Orleans and Lafayette in 1970, and Charles DeGaulle was hosted by Louisiana luminaries at the end of April 1960.

“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal -- a commitment to excellence -- that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”

-- Mario Andretti

It caught the imaginations of dozens of optimistic adventurers from south Louisiana when Narcisco Lopez led an ill-fated invasion to wrest Cuba from the Spanish Empire in 1851.
It was the era of Manifest Destiny, the belief that expansion of the United States was inevitable. A huge part of the continent had just been annexed as a result of the Mexican-American War, and many people thought Cuba might someday become an American state.