Towards Cultural Alliance

On 21 December 1918, President Woodrow Wilson of the United States received an honorary degree from the Sorbonne. On the day of the ceremony, the grand amphitheâtre of the venerable university was decked out in French and American flags. The most powerful man in the world, himself a former university president, was in Paris to ensure that war never again scourged the world, but took the time to be part of the ceremonial in Paris' Quartier Latin.1 The President received multiple orations from the assembled heads of the various faculties of the University of Paris, and his every move was greeted by thundering ovations. Le Temps remarked that the ceremony honoured the man who would lead the French nation 'by the hand towards the horizon of universal justice.'2