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Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

Acting

Biography

Jacques Chirac, born November 29, 1932 in Paris and died September 26, 2019 in the same city, was a senior French civil servant and statesman. He was Prime Minister from 1974 to 1976, then again from 1986 to 1988, and President of the Republic from 1995 to 2007. After studying at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris and the École Nationale d'Administration (ENA), he joined the office of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou in 1962 as a special adviser. He was elected Member of Parliament for Corrèze within the Gaullist majority and appointed Secretary of State four times and Minister four times, starting in 1967. Chirac was subsequently chosen as Prime Minister by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in 1974. Two years later, having had poor relations with Giscard, he resigned from Prime Minister's office and launched the Rally for the Republic (RPR), a political party claiming to be Gaullist. While continuing his career as an elected official in Corrèze, he became Mayor of Paris in 1977 and ran in the 1981 presidential election. After the right-wing victory in the 1986 legislative elections, he was appointed by Socialist President François Mitterrand to serve as Prime Minister once again. He was thus the first head of government under a cohabitation regime under the Fifth Republic and, at the same time, the only politician to have served as Prime Minister twice under the same regime. He was defeated in the second round of the 1988 presidential election by the incumbent president, then became leader of the opposition, despite subsequently facing the growing popularity of Édouard Balladur. In 1995, he was elected Head of State with 52.6% of the vote in the second round, defeating Socialist Lionel Jospin. He initially governed with the right-wing majority he acquired in 1993. The beginning of his first term was marked by a pension and social security reform that was massively contested and partially abandoned, and by the recognition of the French state's responsibility for the persecution and deportation of Jews during the Occupation. Following the dissolution of the National Assembly in 1997, he lost his majority in Parliament and was forced into cohabitation with Lionel Jospin, during which a referendum was held establishing the five-year presidential term: Jacques Chirac was thus the last president of the Fifth Republic to have served a seven-year term. In the 2002 presidential election, he was re-elected for a five-year term with 82.2% of the vote in the second round, benefiting from a "republican front" against the National Front candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen. During his second term, after launching the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), he led the international opposition to the Iraq War launched by US President George W. Bush in 2003 and campaigned for a "yes" vote in the 2005 referendum on the European Constitution, which resulted in a "no" victory. At the end of his presidency in 2007, faced with low popularity and a succession of electoral defeats, and weakened by a stroke in 2005, he decided not to seek a third term. On June 9, 2008, the "Chirac Foundation" for sustainable development and intercultural dialogue was launched. Jacques Chirac died in Paris on September 26, 2019.

Known For

Midi Première
9.0

Midi Première is a French variety show presented by Danièle Gilbert, directed by Jacques Pierre and broadcast from January 6, 1975 until January 1, 1982 on TF1. The program was generally broadcast between 12:15 p.m. and 12:55 p.m., then giving way to the 1:00 p.m. TV news. However, the broadcast schedule could change, depending on the guests, and the setting where the recording of the program was shot. Certain performances by artists who have become cult like the one where Ringo jostles with a demonstrator in interpretation (1977), that of Dalida with the title There is always a song with the soundtrack that does not start, twice, at the right speed (1978), Claude François and his Clodettes, who, in the provinces, are unable to join "the set" in order to interpret his song, the latter being taken by the crowd of delirious fans (summer 1977) . The group Supertramp performed there with the title "Dreamer" on March 8, 1975.

Midi Première

1975Series
America Who Are You? A History of the American Mindset
4.0

On July 4th, 2026, the United States will celebrate Independence Day, just as it does every year. But 250 years on from the country’s Declaration of Independence, the image of the United States has become tarnished. Yet today, the United States seems increasingly alien and ever more threatening to many Europeans. Is Donald Trump’s current policy the product of a national identity shaped by history? To understand the American mindset, one must look back to the roots and myths that have shaped it — a history marked by rifts and conflicts that continue to resonate today. By drawing parallels between cowboys and populism, Thanksgiving and Charlie Kirk, this 2-part documentary demonstrates that Trump’s politics differ from those of his predecessors and are not in line with the values upon which the history of the American nation was founded.

America Who Are You? A History of the American Mindset

2026Series