By the end of his first year, unions nearly brought the country to its knees with strikes that paralyzed the transport sector. Chirac clearly understood the political value in the job: Being mayor of the capital was a perfect springboard to national power. In his memoirs, Giscard wrote that between the two rounds, he phoned the RPR headquarters. "Chirac and ‘la Francafrique’: No longer a family affair. In December 1974, he took the lead of the Union of Democrats for the Republic (UDR) against the will of its more senior personalities. Chirac seized the occasion to periodically criticise Jospin's government. Still, through all of the ups and downs of his nearly 40-year career in politics, Chirac remained one of the most popular public figures in France. Pierre Juillet le fait entrer en novembre 1964 à la commission de développement économique régional du Limousin ; le 14 mars 1965, Chirac est élu conseiller municipal de Sainte-Féréole, en Corrèze, berceau des grands-parents maternels … [21] In 1965, he became an auditor in the Court of Auditors. Debatable or disputed rulers are in italics. At the age of 41, Chirac stood out as the very model of the jeunes loups ("young wolves") of French politics, but he was faced with the hostility of the "Barons of Gaullism" who considered him a traitor for his role during the previous presidential campaign. ", "La "Cruella" de la droite revient... Marie-France Garaud taclera-t-elle Sarkozy? When student and worker unrest rocked France in May 1968, Chirac played a central role in negotiating a truce. Jacques Chirac married Bernadette Chodron de Courcel in 1956 and the couple had two daughters, Laurence and Claude. He also has a foster daughter, Anh Dao Traxel. [59], In July 2006, the G8 met to discuss international energy concerns. The day was declared a national day of mourning in France and a minute of silence was held nationwide at 15:00. "[29] His rivalry with Giscard d'Estaing intensified. As prime minister, Chirac quickly set about persuading the Gaullists that, despite the social reforms proposed by President Giscard, the basic tenets of Gaullism, such as national and European independence, would be retained. At about the same time, it became apparent that Juppé and others had obtained preferential conditions for public housing, as well as other perks. 8 and second row. Chirac was also featured in Le Bêbête Show as an overexcited, jumpy character. En 1964, Pierre Juillet, proche conseiller du Premier ministre, incite « les jeunes loups de Pompidou » (Chirac, Jean Charbonnel, Bernard Pons, Pierre Mazeaud) à s'engager en politique et à battre la gauche dans ses bastions traditionnels, dans le centre et l'ouest de la France . [11], According to Chirac, his name "originates from the langue d'oc, that of the troubadours, therefore that of poetry". [65] He did not, during the broadcast, endorse any of the candidates running for election, but did devote several minutes of his talk to a plea against extremist politics that was considered a thinly disguised invocation to voters not to vote for Jean-Marie Le Pen and a recommendation to Nicolas Sarkozy not to orient his campaign so as to include themes traditionally associated with Le Pen. [44] In 1997 the aircraft carrier Clemenceau was decommissioned after 37 years of service, with her sister ship Foch decommissioned in 2000 after 37 years of service, leaving the French Navy with no aircraft carrier until 2001, when Charles de Gaulle was commissioned. It had been expected that he would face incumbent prime minister Lionel Jospin (PS) in the second round of elections; instead, Chirac faced far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen of the National Front (FN), who came in 200,000 votes ahead of Jospin. (In 2000 the constitution had been amended to reduce the length of the presidential term to five years, so his second term was shorter than his first. Chirac quickly earned a reputation as a champion of French farmers' interests, and first attracted international attention when he assailed U.S., West German, and European Commission agricultural policies which conflicted with French interests. "Rien ne va plus entre Chirac et Tiberi", Jean Guarrigues, professor at the University of, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, President of the General Council of Corrèze, Learn how and when to remove this template message, scandals about the financing of RPR by Paris municipality, Jacques Chirac's second term as President of France, Iraq of alleged weapons of mass destruction, 2005 French European Constitution referendum, Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, North Africa Security and Order Operations Commemorative Medal, Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria, Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, Medal "In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg", Medal of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Privatization Is Essential, Chirac Warns Socialists: Resisting Global Currents, France Sticks to Being French, "Jacques Chirac President of France from 1995 to 2007", "Jacques Chirac, French president, 1932-2019", "The last true Gaullist: how Jacques Chirac charmed France", "Jacques Chirac verdict welcomed by anti-corruption campaigners", "Jacques Chirac, former French president, is dead at 86", "France more liberalised than social democratized? Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development: 1972–74. Charles Pasqua and Philippe Séguin criticised his abandonment of Gaullist doctrines. He received 20% of the vote in the first ballot of the presidential elections in April 2002. The first couple were in an Air France Boeing 747 taxiing toward the terminal when the jet had to stop and wait for Flight 4590 to take off. Secretary of State for Economy and Finance: 1968–71. According to Chirac, his name "originates from the langue d'oc, that of the troubadours, therefore that of poetry". [citation needed], Chirac's cabinet sold many public companies, renewing the liberalisation initiated under Laurent Fabius's Socialist government of 1984–1986, and abolished the solidarity tax on wealth (ISF), a symbolic tax on those with high value assets introduced by Mitterrand's government. In 2011, the Paris court declared Chirac guilty of diverting public funds and abusing public confidence, giving him a two-year suspended prison sentence. [citation needed], After the May 1981 presidential election, the right also lost the subsequent legislative election that year. Chirac told the Socialist candidate that he wanted to "get rid of Giscard". For years, he was dogged by charges of corruption dating back decades to his time in the Paris City Hall. Ultimately, he obtained more votes than Balladur in the first round (20.8 percent), and then defeated the Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin in the second round (52.6 percent). So there's not any other solution to multilateralism. Even though he graduated from the best schools, Chirac worked as a sailor at one time and even briefly held a job in the United States. [citation needed], In the United States Chirac worked at Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1978, Chirac attacked the pro-European policy of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (VGE), and made a nationalist turn with the December 1978 Call of Cochin, initiated by his counsellors Marie-France Garaud and Pierre Juillet, which had first been called by Pompidou. Chirac was advised by Pierre Juillet and Marie-France Garaud, two former advisers of Pompidou. "La cohabitation de longue durée: studying the 1997-2002 experience. [101], Chirac remained married, but had several other relationships.[102][103][104]. Despite past opposition to state intervention the Chirac government approved a €2.8 billion aid package to troubled manufacturing giant Alstom. [68], As a former President of France, he was entitled to a lifetime pension and personal security protection, and was an ex officio member for life of the Constitutional Council. Future Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin acquired much of his popularity for his speech against the war at the United Nations (UN). Chirac instead suggested the appointment of Edouard Balladur, who had promised that he would not run for the presidency against Chirac in 1995. Even when he suffered a minor stroke in 2005, there was little sympathy for the clearly aging president. During this period, he joined the French Communist Party, sold copies of L'Humanité, and took part in meetings of a communist cell. President of the Rally for the Republic: 1976–94 (Resignation). [54] The gunman, Maxime Brunerie, underwent psychiatric testing; the violent far-right group with which he was associated, Unité Radicale, was then administratively dissolved. Vexed Marie-France Garaud stated: "We thought Chirac was made of the same marble of which statues are carved in, we perceive he's of the same faience bidets are made of. [88] Chirac is said to be the first former French head of state to be formally placed under investigation for a crime. On 14 July 2002, during Bastille Day celebrations, Chirac survived an assassination attempt by a lone gunman with a rifle hidden in a guitar case. [49] The departing plane, an Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde, ran over a strip of metal on takeoff puncturing its left fuel tank and sliced electrical wires near the left landing gear. [70], In Volume 2 of his memoirs published in June 2011, Chirac mocked his successor Nicolas Sarkozy as "irritable, rash, impetuous, disloyal, ungrateful, and un-French". Knapp, Andrew. Chirac was born in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. "Le président Jacques Chirac s'est éteint ce matin au milieu des siens. [58] Whereas the disagreement on Iraq had caused a rift between Paris and Washington, recent analysis suggests that both governments worked closely together on the Syria file to end the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and that Chirac was a driver of this diplomatic cooperation. Pompidou considered Chirac his protégé, and referred to him as "my bulldozer" for his skill at getting things done. Plusieurs fois ministre, il aura marqué la vie politique française. Then, as state secretary of economy (1968–1971), he worked closely with Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who headed the ministry of economy and finance. His great-grandparents on both sides were peasants in the rural south-western region of the Corrèze. He was elected deputy for his home Corrèze département, a stronghold of the left. But almost from the beginning of his term, he was faced with labor unrest over his economic austerity plans. The demonstrations were largely pitted against Juppé's plan for pension reform, and ultimately led to his dismissal. Le 22e président de la République française, Jacques Chirac, est décédé à l’âge de 86 ans, ce jeudi 26 septembre. [33], While he still was mayor of Paris (since 1977),[34] Chirac went to Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) where he supported President Houphouët-Boigny (1960–1993), although the latter was being called a "thief" by the local population. The Israeli Air Force alleged that the reactor's imminent commissioning was a threat to its security, and pre-emptively bombed the Osirak reactor on 7 June 1981, provoking considerable anger from French officials and the United Nations Security Council. Il est président de la République française du 17 mai 1995 au 16 mai 2007. Although it has been often interpreted by historians as the struggle between two rival French right-wing families (the Bonapartists, represented by Chirac, and the Orleanists, represented by VGE), both figures in fact were members of the liberal, Orleanist tradition, according to historian Alain-Gérard Slama. When Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became president, he nominated Chirac as prime minister on 27 May 1974, to reconcile the "Giscardian" and "non-Giscardian" factions of the parliamentary majority. Levy, Jonah, Alistair Cole, and Patrick Le Galès. Age de Bernadette Chirac. Après avoir été député, ministre, Premier ministre et maire de Paris, c’est en 1995 que Jacques Chirac voit enfin sa carrière politique atteindre son paroxysme en étant élu Président de la République Française. [96] Chirac said that "The Republic is not a dictatorship of rumours, a dictatorship of calumny. The UNITAID project was born. I do not believe France is responsible," he said in September 1994. Jacques Chirac, 86 Former French president Jacques Chirac, who led France from 1995 to 2007, has died at the age of 86. A French town is changing the name of a major avenue, scrapping the name of late U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy to honor a French president instead. [90], On 7 March 2011, he went on trial on charges of diverting public funds, accused of giving fictional city jobs to twenty-eight activists from his political party while serving as the mayor of Paris (1977–95).