Certain French politicians are remembered with a constancy which owes nothing to the efforts of historians. A Gambetta, a Jaurès, a Clemenceau have achieved a place in national history reflected in street names and squares from city to hamlet. Yet the commemoration of such heroes may have more to do with what local politicians believe should be political models than with the memories their constituents actually cherish. Few streets bear the name of Raymond Poincaré. In several Gallup International opinion polls carried out in post-Second World War France on historical personalities, members of the public were asked to give the name of the French person of the past or present with whom they would most wish to converse for an hour. In 1948 Napoleon carried the day, well ahead of Joan of Arc, Henry IV and Louis XIV. Clemenceau came after Louis XVI with twice the score of any other historical personage, including Poincaré. Yet Poincaré always equalled Jaurès's score of between 2 and 5 per cent along with inter alia Robespierre, Pasteur, Richelieu and Foch. Gambetta was never cited. In 1967 Gallup found that in response to the question as to which Frenchman, living or dead, had done the most for France since the Revolution, General de Gaulle came out top with Louis Pasteur at just under half his score, Napoleon half of the latter's and Clemenceau just below that. Poincaré now came equal to Léon Blum and Pétain, but had twice the score of Jaurès and General Leclerc, the only other two named personalities.