Every May, the Massachusetts Lafayette Society hosts events throughout New England celebrating the Marquis de Lafayette. The French Cultural Center is proud to join in this tradition and to welcome Alan R. Hoffman, President of the Massachusetts Lafayette Society and of the American Friends of Lafayette.
In his talk, Hoffman will explore the role that Lafayette played as a symbol of Franco-American friendship, both during his lifetime and after his death. To the extent that Americans remember Lafayette, they recall his role in the American Revolution and his advocacy of American interests in the 1780s. Hoffman will examine both this initial period of Franco-American friendship, and focus on Lafayette’s posthumous symbolism as the man who inspired the Statue of Liberty, facilitated America’s entry into and participation in the Great War in 1917 and emblemized of the current thaw in Franco-American relations.
Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825 will be available for sale at the event. Talk will be followed by a book signing and wine reception.
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About Alan R. Hoffman:
Hoffman serves as an officer of two Lafayette societies: he is President of the American Friends of Lafayette and President of the Massachusetts Lafayette Society. Since 2006, Hoffman has lectured widely on Lafayette and the Farewell Tour, presenting over 85 talks in 15 of the 24 states that Lafayette visited during his Farewell Tour. Hoffman also translated Auguste Levasseur’s Lafayette in Americain 1824 and 1825, the first-hand account of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour of America written by his private secretary.
