The 'Goude procession'?, organized on 14 July 1989 for the Bicentenary of the French Revolution, sheds light on the development of a common meaning of this founding event. The first part of this article reviews the historical debates and the ways in which Furet's theses and their popularization reconstruct readings of 1789. A comparative analysis of the commentaries on the same images, by L?on Zitrone on TF1 and by Fr?deric Mitterand on Antenne 2, yields two different readings. The author then highlights the paradoxes of this commemoration. The French Revolution becomes an event purified of its violence, social antagonisms and power struggles - dressed as it is in a Universalism based on models from the USA.