Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac
Chirac in 1997
22nd President of France
In office 17 May 1995 – 16 May 2007
Prime Minister	Alain Juppé Lionel Jospin Jean-Pierre Raffarin Dominique de Villepin
Preceded by	François Mitterrand
Succeeded by	Nicolas Sarkozy
Prime Minister of France
In office 20 March 1986 – 10 May 1988
President	François Mitterrand
Preceded by	Laurent Fabius
Succeeded by	Michel Rocard
In office 27 May 1974 – 25 August 1976
President	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Preceded by	Pierre Messmer
Succeeded by	Raymond Barre
Mayor of Paris
In office 20 March 1977 – 16 May 1995
Deputy	Christian de La Malène Jean Tiberi
Preceded by	Office re-established
Succeeded by	Jean Tiberi
President of Rally for the Republic
In office 5 December 1976 – 4 November 1994
Preceded by	Party established
Succeeded by	Alain Juppé
Political offices 1970‍–‍1979 Minister of the Interior In office 27 February 1974 – 28 May 1974 Prime Minister Pierre Messmer Preceded by Raymond Marcellin Succeeded by Michel Poniatowski Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development In office 7 July 1972 – 27 February 1974 Prime Minister Pierre Messmer Preceded by Michel Cointat [fr] Succeeded by Raymond Marcellin Minister for Parliamentary Relations In office 7 January 1971 – 5 July 1972 Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas Preceded by Roger Frey Succeeded by Robert Boulin President of the General Council of Corrèze In office 15 March 1970 – 25 March 1979 Preceded by Élie Rouby [fr] Succeeded by Georges Debat [fr]
Additional positions
(see § Offices and distinctions)
Personal details
Born	Jacques René Chirac (1932-11-29)29 November 1932 Paris, France
Died	26 September 2019(2019-09-26) (aged 86) Paris, France
Resting place	Montparnasse Cemetery, Paris
Political party	See list PCF (before 1962) UNR (1962–1968) UDR (1968–1976) RPR (1976–2002) UMP (2002–2007)
Spouse	Bernadette Chodron de Courcel ​ ​ (m. 1956)​
Children	3, including Claude and Anh Dao Traxel
Alma mater	Sciences Po ENA
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	French Fourth Republic
Branch/service	French Army
Years of service	1954–1957
Rank	Second lieutenant

Jacques René Chirac (French: [ʒak ʁəne ʃiʁak] ^ⓘ; UK: /ˈʃɪəræk/,^[1][2] US: /ʒɑːk ʃɪəˈrɑːk/ ^ⓘ;^[2][3][4] 29 November 1932 – 26 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France^[5] from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.

After attending the École nationale d'administration, Chirac began his career as a high-level civil servant, entering politics shortly thereafter. Chirac occupied various senior positions, including minister of agriculture and minister of the interior. In 1981 and 1988, he unsuccessfully ran for president as the standard-bearer for the conservative Gaullist party Rally for the Republic (RPR). Chirac's internal policies initially included lower tax rates, the removal of price controls, strong punishment for crime and terrorism, and business privatisation.^[6] After pursuing these policies in his second term as prime minister, he changed his views. He argued for different economic policies and was elected president in 1995, with 52.6% of the vote in the second round, beating Socialist Lionel Jospin, after campaigning on a platform of healing the "social rift" (fracture sociale).^[7] Chirac's economic policies, based on dirigisme, allowing for state-directed investment, stood in opposition to the laissez-faire policies of the United Kingdom under the ministries of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, which Chirac described as "Anglo-Saxon ultraliberalism".^[8]

He was also known for his stand against the American-led invasion of Iraq, his recognition of the collaborationist French government's role in deporting Jews, and his reduction of the presidential term from seven years to five through a referendum in 2000. At the 2002 presidential election, he won 82.2% of the vote in the second round against the far-right candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and was the last president to be re-elected until 2022.

In 2011, the Paris court declared Chirac guilty of diverting public funds and abusing public confidence, giving him a two-year suspended prison sentence.^[9]