Jacques Chirac
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.
Photos
Movies (53)
Chirac sous les Tropiques, petits arrangements avec la République
2026 · Self (archive footage)
1995 - Hopes and Betrayals
2026 · Himself (Archival Footage)
The Relentless Patriot
2024 · Self
Au cœur du Papotin
2023 · Self
Trois mille milliards : les secrets d'un État en faillite
2023 · Jacques Chirac
The Revenge of Bernadette Chirac
2023 · Self (archive footage)
La Malédiction de la Grande Arche
2023 · Self (archive) - Prime Minister (1986-1988)
Mohammed VI - The Limits of Power
2022 · Self (archive footage)
In France with Madonna
2022 · Self (archive footage)
Cent jours
2022 · Self
De Charles de Gaulle à Emmanuel Macron, les gardiens de l'empire
2022 · Self (archive footage)
La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
2022 · Self (archive footage)
10 mai 1981 : Changer la vie ?
2021 · Self (archive footage)
Mitterrand et la télé
2021 · Self (archive footage)
Lebanon in Crisis
2020 · Self - Politician (archive footage)
Nicotine - A Drug with a Future
2020 · Self (archive footage)
Entretien politique : Histoire et mode d'emploi
2020 · Self (archive footage)
30 Years of Democracy
2019 · Self (archive footage)
1974, l'alternance Giscard
2019 · Self (archive footage)
Un peu, beaucoup, passionnément... Les Présidents et les Français
2019 · Self (archive footage)
Mon Chirac
2019 · Self (archive footage)
The Perfect Day
2018 · Self
Balladur-Chirac, mensonges et trahisons
2017 · Self (archive footage)
Mr & Mme Adelman
2017 · Self (archive footage)
Jacques Chirac, l'homme qui ne voulait pas être président
2017 · Jacques Chirac
King of Morocco, the secret reign
2016 · Self (archive footage)
Sanctuary
2015 · Self - Politician (archive footage)
Le Clan Chirac
2013 · Self
Pierre Mazeaud, la vie en face(s)
2013 · Self (archive footage)
Bernadette Chirac - Un jour, un destin
2012 · Self (archive footage)
The New Watchdogs
2012 · Self
Sarah's Key
2010 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Modern Life
2008 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
10 mai Africaphonie
2008 · Self
The Case of the Grinning Cat
2006 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Chirac
2006 · Self (archive footage)
Being Jacques Chirac
2006 · Self (archive footage)
Breaking Point: Canada/Quebec - The 1995 Referendum
2005 · Himself
French Kiss
2005 · Self
Celsius 41.11
2004 · Self (archive footage)
Athens 2004: Olympic Opening Ceremony (Games of the XXVIII Olympiad)
2004 · Self - President of the French Republic
One of Many
2004 · Self
Fogh bag facaden
2003 · Self
Comme un coup de tonnerre
2002 · Self (archive footage)
1974, une partie de campagne
2002 · Self
Taxi 2: Alta tensión
2000 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
A Conversation with Gregory Peck
1999 · Self
Les Guignols, les 10 premières années
1999 · Thanks
Hemingway: Winner Take Nothing
1998 · Self
Christo in Paris
1990 · Self
Islands
1987 · Self
Reporters
1981 · Self
Mai 68, dix semaines qui ébranlèrent la France
· Jacques Chirac (Self)
TV shows (13)
America Who Are You?
2026 · Self (archive footage)
Unveiling Arafat
2023 · Self (archive footage)
The Rise of Wagner
2023 · Self (archive footage)
Jacques Chirac, du jeune loup au vieux lion
2006 · Jacques Chirac
L'Invité
2002 · Self
Vivement dimanche
1998 · Self
Télévision (histoires secrètes)
1996 · Self (archive footage)
Zone interdite
1993 · Self
Envoyé Spécial
1990 · Jacques Chirac
L'Heure de vérité
1982 · self
Les Jeux de 20 heures
1976 · Self
30 millions d'amis
1976 · Self
Midi Première
1975 · Self