Who is jack chirac

There he is as a chisel-chinned prime minister in the s; later in a flared three-piece suit, announcing the creation of his Gaullist party; then as president upbraiding Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem; or glad-handing at the annual farm show in Paris. The years have passed and no-one particularly wants to dwell on the many failings of the man.

No mention in the tributes of the corruption and the flip-flops. What remains for most is the memory of a likeable man, a man of culture at least that was the image he cultivated , and a president who acted like a French president is supposed to - that is, projecting the permanent conviction that France, of course, is the best place in the world.

Chirac won domestic and international plaudits for his fierce opposition to French involvement in the Iraq War, presciently warning it would prove a "nightmare". It is always proof of failure," Chirac said, in comments days before the war started. In , Chirac became the first French leader to recognise the country's role in the deportation of Jews to death camps during World War Two.

After winning the presidential election on a platform of healing the "social rift", his promised economic reforms were considered piecemeal. Among his major domestic political reforms was a reduction of the presidential term of office from seven to five years, and the abolition of compulsory military service.

Described by some as a political chameleon, by others as the "bulldozer", Chirac was seen as a leader who could bridge the gap between left and right. As president, he pressed for a more federal Europe within the European Union. In the s, Chirac championed the European project and an EU constitution, which was later rejected in a poll by the majority of French voters. Born in , Chirac was the son of a bank manager.

A graduate of Harvard University, he began his career as a high-level civil servant before entering politics. He served as head of state from to - making him France's second longest serving post-war president after his immediate Socialist predecessor Francois Mitterrand. Chirac's health steadily deteriorated after he stepped down until his death on Thursday. In , he suffered a stroke, and in his wife Bernadette said he would no longer speak in public, noting he had memory trouble.

Chirac also served as French prime minister twice, from to and from to During the next few years the divisions between the Paris city hall and the RPR became increasingly blurred as Chirac pursued his ambitions. In the swing of the political pendulum brought the right back to power in the national assembly and, for the second time, Chirac became prime minister: this was the first cohabitation.

The new premier was no match for the crafty Mitterrand, who easily outmanoeuvred him. In Mitterrand and Chirac faced each other in the final round of the presidential election and Mitterrand was the easy winner, calling a parliamentary election, which was won by the left.

Five years later the right again won a general election. It was yet another miscalculation; it took very little time for Balladur to discover that he, too, would like to be president.

But Chirac, a far better and more experienced campaigner, discovered the fracture sociale that had been apparent to most observers of France for some time. Arguing that a divided society had to be brought together, he attracted the support of many young voters, and in the first round, while finishing behind Jospin, he defeated Balladur.

He narrowly beat Jospin in the second round. The temptation for a newly elected president is to call an immediate general election, calculating that the voters will give him a sympathetic national assembly.

Chirac did not, reflecting that the existing assembly had three years to run. Various quasi-Gaullist policies, such as nuclear testing in the South Pacific, were resumed. Jospin became prime minister. His reservations about the Iraq war won him applause at home and abroad but he suffered a major setback when in voters ignored his support for the planned European Union constitution, which was decisively rejected in a referendum by the electorate.

The grandfatherly and archetypically provincial prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, was replaced by the patrician foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, whose speech at the UN opposing the Iraq war had been widely hailed. But plans to offer young workers lower pay to combat youth unemployment drew angry opposition and had to be withdrawn, while the death of two young men of immigrant origin in a suburban Paris housing estate after a police chase triggered nationwide riots, giving Sarkozy a chance to a parade his hardline credentials.

He began wearing a discreet hearing aid and in he suffered a mild stroke. Increasingly he appeared to be little more than a spectator of the vicious Villepin-Sarkozy feud, and stepped down in In Chirac had married Bernadette Chodron de Courcel, daughter of a grand and wealthy Gaullist family. She was iron-willed, a devout Catholic and a product of the haute bourgeoisie.

The French leader was resolutely unwilling to join the coalition, emerging as a formidable voice of opposition against a military invasion. Corruption allegations, including charges dating back to his time as Paris mayor, however continued to dog Chirac until the end of his term and after. Nevertheless the rakishly handsome politician retained a measure of popularity. His mother was a housewife. Chirac began his political career in the s when he was appointed head of the personal staff of Gaullist Prime Minister Georges Pompidou.

We are two equal candidates who are submitting themselves to the judgment of the French people. Permit me then to call you Mr. Prime Minister.