French President Jacques Chirac: biography, years of government, personal life, family and photos

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

The last Russophile in Western politics and the first French president to receive a prison term - albeit a suspended one. Jacques Chirac was a consistent supporter of Gaullism, he even tried to distance himself a little from the United States by not supporting the American invasion of Iraq. In domestic politics, he was a supporter of traditional right-wing liberalism, advocated low tax rates and cuts in government spending.

Early years

Jacques Chirac was born on November 29, 1932 in Paris, in the family of a major banker. He was seven and a half years old when the Germans occupied the French capital. Life didn't change much for most Parisians, but the Chirac family moved south, where they lived from 1940 to 1945. As a child, he was a little shy, which, however, did not prevent him from being mischievous and cocky. In one of the school photos, Jacques Chirac hid in the back row and could not be forced to stand in front, as the school teacher later recalled.

In adolescenceAt the age of one of the teachers of Jacques was a White Guard officer who instilled in him a love for the Russian language and literature. He really liked Pushkin and he even translated the poem "Eugene Onegin" into French. True, the translation was published only when Jacques Chirac had already become a well-known politician.

Education

After studying at the most prestigious lyceums in France - Carnot and Louis-le-Grand (Louis the Great), he worked on a ship for three months. In 1954 he graduated from the Institute of Political Studies. During his studies, he repeatedly traveled to the United States and even studied at the Summer School of Management at Harvard University. Already in these years, Jacques Chirac decided to pursue a career in politics, so he continued his studies at the National School of Administration (ENA). By tradition, graduates of this closed prestigious university occupy most of the highest government posts in France. Former AEN students, dubbed "enarchs" by French journalists, form a closed caste bound together by special unwritten rules and customs.

In 1956-1957, Jacques Chirac served in the army, participated in the Algerian war, where he was seriously wounded. For participation in hostilities, he was awarded the Cross of Military Valor.

Beginning of labor and political career

Jacques Chirac's career in the public service began in 1959 as an auditor of the State Audit Chamber - an important career step on the way to work in the country's government. Three years later he became Assistant Chief of the General Secretariat of AdministrationFrench government. Here he became closely acquainted with the famous politician, Prime Minister J. Pompidou, who appreciated the energetic employee and soon appointed him head of his staff.

On the advice of his patron, Chirac began political activity, becoming an activist, and then the leader of the right-wing Gaullist party. In 1962 he was elected to the municipal council of Sainte-Feréol, his parents' homeland. He played an important role in the election campaigns of Charles de Gaulle in 1965, and then of Georges Pompidou. From the latter he received the nickname "bulldozer" for assertiveness and aggressiveness. Occasionally, however, they called him a "helicopter", and journalists stuck the nickname "political animal" to him.

The rapid takeoff of the "bulldozer"

He soon took his first post in government, becoming Secretary of State for Social Affairs. In any position, Chirac showed extraordinary energy and did an excellent job with the tasks of his patron, especially if this required speed and onslaught. After Pompidou was elected President of France, Jacques Chirac becomes his closest ally.

He invariably held positions in all subsequent governments, rapidly moving up the career ladder. Chirac worked first as a minister for relations with the parliament, then for agriculture, then for internal affairs. Everyone predicted him the position of the next prime minister, but President Georges Pompidou died in 1974. Chirac grieved the death of his teacher andfriend, wore a black tie for a year as a sign of mourning and did not find it possible to continue working in the government.

On two armchairs

Having replaced Pompidou as leader of the Gaullist Union of Democrats in Defense of the Republic, two years later he reformed into the Rally in Support of the Republic party. Which was permanently headed until 1994. The party supported Giscard d'Estaing in the presidential election, for which Jacques Chirac received the post of Prime Minister of France.

In 1977, he triumphantly won the election of the mayor of Paris, the first in more than a hundred years - before that, mayors were elected only in the districts. He worked in this position until 1995. Under him, one of the dirtiest European capitals became a clean and livable city. In 1986-1988, he became prime minister for the second time, combining his activities with the work of the mayor of Paris. Chirac became the only one in the history of the Fifth Republic who was able to take this post again. In the 1988 presidential election, he ran for office against the incumbent President Mitterrand. After losing, he was forced to resign.

Two terms

In 1995 and 2002 he won the presidential elections. He faced the difficult task of changing the tax and educational system, reducing unemployment and creating a professional army. According to experts, President Jacques Chirac coped with them rather badly. New laws in this area and cuts in government spending caused widespread discontent among the population. Several times during his reign, ethnicriots and student riots.

French foreign policy in those years was aimed at building a "multipolar world" and an attempt to return France to the status of a great power. Very popular in the country of Jacques Chirac was his decision not to support the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Private life

Chirac is happily married to Bernadette Chaudron de Courcelles, who comes from an old aristocratic family. The couple have two children - daughters Laurence (1958-2016) and Claude (1962). The only one who attributed numerous novels to him was his former driver, who wrote the book "Twenty-five Years with Him" in retaliation for an unfair dismissal. According to him, Jacques Chirac, extremely busy during the years of French rule, still found time to meet women. His mistresses nicknamed him “three minutes plus a shower.”

Chirac is an authoritative art collector from Mauritius, India, Japan and China (Ming Dynasty). Thanks to his efforts, the Paris Museum of Primitive Art was opened. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and watching thrillers. In 2011, a photo of Jacques Chirac resurfaced in all major French publications due to the fact that he was given a two-year suspended sentence for abuse of power and embezzlement of public funds. It became known that when he was the mayor of Paris, he created fictitious jobs, and transferred his salary to the fund of his party.