A speech given by His Excellency Charles H. Rivkin, United States Ambassador to France and Monaco, to open the first annual American Week at HEC-Paris, on October 15, 2012. The event was organized by Prof. Christopher Robinson and his students in the BEST program with the support of the French-American Foundation in France. The first part of the speech, given in French, celebrates the current and historical bonds that unite France and the U.S. In the second part, given in English, Mr. Rivkin draws upon his own personal experiences as an ambassador and a businessman in discussing the power of social media to promote the American values of democracy, free speech, and equal opportunity in the world today