He wondered if Alexis de Tocqueville had ever envisaged a scene like this.

NEWYORKER: Great Experiment

As in the case of de Tocqueville, it sometimes takes a Frenchman to explain America to itself.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

De Tocqueville noted that democratic people have always had a weakness for memorialising their leaders.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

They have finally learned de Tocqueville's lesson: that the best way for aristocrats to survive in a democracy is to disguise themselves as hoi polloi.

ECONOMIST: The WASP in the ointment