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Julien Pierre Icher

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour and National Coherence—The Lafayette Trail

The session will focus on Lafayette’s Farewell Tour of the U.S. in 1824–1825 and demonstrate how Americans turned to Lafayette for a stabilizing presence in the middle of the 1824 U.S. Presidential Election. It will promote a broader understanding of Lafayette’s numerous contributions to American independence and national coherence by exploring three main angles of Lafayette’s legacy: his Revolutionary War military achievements, his lifelong commitment to universal human rights, and his constant support of national unity. It will also introduce attendees to the efforts of The Lafayette Trail to prepare for the bicentennial of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour in 2024–2025.

Julien Pierre Icher

Julien Pierre Icher (julien@thelafayettetrail.org | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook) is a French national and Founder and President of The Lafayette Trail, Inc. (thelafayettetrail.org). He is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, one of the few French Grandes Ecoles. He holds a bachelor’s degree with a double major in history and geography, as well as two master’s degrees: one in human geography, the other in digital geographies, with a focus on the integration of spatial data in web environments. At age 24, he accompanied president Emmanuel Macron of France as the youngest member of the French Presidential Delegation during President Macron’s state visit to Washington, D.C., in April of 2018 to help emphasize the unique bilateral friendship between France and the U.S. and the critical role that Lafayette played in it.

Julien’s recent publications include: Lafayette: A Bridge between Two Revolutions, Discover Concord, Concord, MA, Spring 2021, 16-17 (https://issuu.com/discoverconcordma/docs/dc.spring21.final). In Lafayette’s Footsteps: Memorializing the General’s Tour in New Hampshire, Historical New Hampshire, Vol. 71, No. 1, Spring 2018, 20-43. Julien is also the producer of a web series known as Follow The Frenchmen #FTF (https://vimeo.com/showcase/8116508). Follow The Frenchmen is a Lafayette Trail-related initiative with the goal to invite a national spotlight on Lafayette’s Farewell Tour using the format of a place-based narrative.