This episode of the Rewriting Dad Podcast is called "French Connections" with Meg Murphy and Leslie Bradford-Scott. Today they take another deep dive into the story of Leslie's father, Claudio and rediscover his strong connections to France. The story even includes a connection to Charles de Gaulle.

Leslie then tells the story of her mom and the difficult life she lived before meeting Claudio. Leslie also introduces her Uncle Tony, who he was and the big mystery surrounding his untimely death.

Also, this episode features the strange story of Elena, one of Rewriting Dad's listeners. Elena reveals that, after her father's death, they unveiled him to be a white supremacist and the deep hurt that can still be felt today.

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HIGHLIGHTS

08:27 The quest for the truth: Claudio's innocence and the shame growing up

16:26 Rediscovering history: Claudio's French connection 

24:49 Moving away: Claudio lives on a farm and moves to Canada 

33:07 Elena's story: the daughter of a white supremacist 

41:24 Claudio meets his wife and her European context

48:18 Introduction to Uncle Tony's life and death

QUOTES

12:37 "Things that happened in my home didn't add up to me and it just felt really nefarious. And there was a gun in every single planter in our house. Not a lot of people do grow up like that but it's kind of maybe not normal. And there was just a lot of comings and goings of people who seemed... they were all like my uncle but we weren't Cuban and there was a lot of Cuban uncles when we were in Florida."

13:42 "After I put the book down, I thought to myself maybe my dad really wasn't in organized crime. Maybe he was innocent but he did it because of his big mouth. Because he did, he had a big mouth. Because of this personality of always having to go to the edge and getting involved with people he maybe shouldn't be involved and stirring the pot with politics."

20:30 "And he says, he went back to this hotel, that it was at the La Pérouse, a hotel he once worked at. I met a bellboy there at the age of 13. I looked real cute, I was told by my sister. I got fired though. I was the personal bellboy for Charles de Gaulle, who as we know, became president of the French Republic."

34:15 "We found a wooden box hidden in his workshop. It had a lot of Nazi memorabilia in it, photos of Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and all kinds of swastikas, including a Nazi flag. There were articles about white supremacy and needless to say it was highly upsetting."

48:29 "My entire childhood, I always wanted to know what happened to my uncle Tony because I think I was about 5 when he died. And I'm that kind of person when I have a question in my head, it'll stay with me forever unless it gets solved. That's why we're doing this. The overwhelming, prevalent story was because he was really young and he was like 32 or 30. The prevalent story about my uncle Tony was that it was the hand of God."

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RESOURCES

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https://www.rewritingdad.ca/