Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac was a French politician who served as president from 1995 to 2007, prime minister twice, and mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.

Charles de Gaulle: French general and statesman who led Free France and founded the Fifth Republic. Chirac entered politics in the Gaullist movement built around de Gaulle’s legacy.
French nuclear testing in the Pacific: French atmospheric and underground nuclear tests conducted across Pacific sites from 1966 to 1996. Chirac resumed Pacific tests in 1995, prompting international protests before France ended them.
Cohabitation (French politics): A French political arrangement in which the president and parliamentary majority belong to opposing camps. Chirac experienced cohabitation as prime minister under Mitterrand and as president alongside Jospin.
François Mitterrand: French Socialist president from 1981 to 1995 and the Fifth Republic’s longest-serving president. Mitterrand was Chirac’s rival in two presidential elections and his counterpart during cohabitation.
Georges Pompidou: French president from 1969 to 1974 and a former prime minister under Charles de Gaulle. Pompidou mentored Chirac and appointed him prime minister in 1974.
1995 French presidential election: The election in which Jacques Chirac defeated Lionel Jospin to become president of France. Chirac won by recasting himself as a champion of social cohesion and opposition to a divided society.
French Fifth Republic: France’s political system established in 1958, combining a powerful presidency with parliamentary government. Chirac’s roles as president and prime minister illustrate the Fifth Republic’s shifting executive balance.
Emmanuel Macron: French president elected in 2017, associated with a centrist political movement outside the traditional party blocs. Macron’s break with established parties contrasts with Chirac’s rise through Gaullist organizations.
Valéry Giscard d’Estaing: French president from 1974 to 1981, whose political coalition competed with Gaullists. Chirac served under Giscard, then broke with him and challenged his political leadership.
1997 French legislative election: A snap election in which the left won a parliamentary majority after Chirac dissolved the National Assembly. Chirac’s decision produced five years of cohabitation with a Socialist-led government.

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