Jacques Chirac
November 29, 1932 – September 26, 2019
Jacques Chirac was President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, and Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995. The standard-bearer of the conservative Gaullist Rally for the Republic, he ran unsuccessfully for president in 1981 and 1988 before his election in 1995.
Biography
Jacques Chirac was a graduate of the École nationale d'administration who entered politics as a protégé of Georges Pompidou. He was prime minister from 1974 to 1976 under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and then founded the Gaullist party Rally for the Republic.
He was mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995 and prime minister again from 1986 to 1988 in "cohabitation" with the Socialist president François Mitterrand. He won the presidency at his third attempt in 1995 and was re-elected in 2002, defeating Jean-Marie Le Pen in the run-off.
As president he ended conscription, resumed and then ended nuclear testing, and led opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In 2011 he was convicted of misusing public funds while mayor of Paris. He died in 2019.
Offices held
Pierre Messmer Succeeded by
Michel Rocard
2 terms
- May 27, 1974 – Aug 25, 1976 Preceded by Pierre Messmer Succeeded by Raymond Barre
- Mar 20, 1986 – May 10, 1988 Preceded by Laurent Fabius Succeeded by Michel Rocard
François Mitterrand Succeeded by
Nicolas Sarkozy
Military service
- Jan 1, 1954 – Jan 1, 1957 French Army
Affiliations
Party membership
- Jan 1, 1962 – Jan 1, 1968 Union for the New Republic
- Jan 1, 1971 – Jan 1, 1976 Union of Democrats for the Republic
- Jan 1, 1976 – Jan 1, 2002 Rally for the Republic
- Jan 1, 2002 – Jan 1, 2007 Union for a Popular Movement
- from Jan 1, 2015 The Republicans (France)
- French Communist Party
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