Jacques Chaban-Delmas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| Jacques Chaban-Delmas | |
 |
|
|
|
|
|---|---|
| In office June 20, 1969 – July 6, 1972 |
|
| President | Georges Pompidou |
| Preceded by | Maurice Couve de Murville |
| Succeeded by | Pierre Messmer |
|
|
|
| In office December 9, 1959 – June 24, 1969 April 3, 1978–April 2, 1986 July 2, 1981–June 23, 1988 |
|
| Preceded by | André Le Troquer (1st) Edgar Faure (2nd) Louis Mermaz (3rd) |
| Succeeded by | Achille Peretti (2st) Louis Mermaz (2nd) Laurent Fabius (3rd) |
|
|
|
| In office 1947 – 1995 |
|
|
|
|
| Born | March 7, 1915 |
| Died | November 10, 2000 |
| Political party | UDR |
| Occupation | Civil Servant |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Jacques Chaban-Delmas (March 7, 1915–November 10, 2000) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. Besides, for almost half a century, he was Mayor of Bordeaux (1947-1995) and deputy of the Gironde département.
Jacques Chaban-Delmas was born Jacques Delmas; in the resistance underground, his final pseudonym was Chaban, and, after World War II, he formally changed his name to Chaban-Delmas. General of a brigade in the resistance, he took part in the Parisian insurrection of August 1944.
A member of the Radical Party, he finally joined the Gaullist Rally of the French People (RPF), which opposed the Fourth Republic's governments. In 1947, he became mayor of Bordeaux which was for 48 years his electoral fief. As a member of the French National Assembly he sat with the RPF.
In 1953, when the RPF group split (and Charles de Gaulle supposedly retired), M. Chaban-Delmas became head of the Union of Republicans for Social Action and president of the National Centre of Social Republicans party. He "tied up" with center-left parties and joined Pierre Mendès-France's cabinet one year later as Minister of Public Works. He took part in the center-left coalition Republican Front, winning of the 1956 legislative election. He was notably Defence Minister in 1957–1958. His governmental participations during the Fourth Republic inspired the distrust of de Gaulle and some Gaullists.
Following Gen. de Gaulle's return to power in 1958, M. Chaban-Delmas agreed to the advent of the French Fifth Republic and the new Constitution. He took part in the foundation of the Union for the New Republic (UNR) and was elected, against de Gaulle's will, chairman of the French National Assembly. He kept this function until the end of de Gaulle's presidency in 1969. Contrary to some Gaullists (Jacques Soustelle...), he supported de Gaulle's policy to end the Algerian War of Independence. During the 1959 UNR Congress, he was the first politician to evoke a "reserved presidential domain" mainly composed of Defense and Diplomacy. This interpretation of the Constitution of 1958 survived today.
In 1969, when Georges Pompidou accedeed to the presidency, he chose M. Chaban-Delmas as Prime minister, who had concluded that the May 68 crisis was the consequence of a strained and conflicted society. He tried to promote what he called "a new society", based on dialogue between the social forces. He relaxed the government authority over mass media. As a result, he was viewed as too "progressive" by the "conservative" wing of the Gaullist movement. He was suspected to "tie up" again with the center-left. Indeed, his advisers who inspired the "new society" programme was considered as close to the center-left (Simon Nora and Jacques Delors who will serve as Finance Minister under François Mitterrand). Besides, a latent conflict opposed M. Chaban-Delmas to President Pompidou and the presidential circle. They accused him to weaken the presidency in aid of himself. The satiric paper 'Le Canard Enchainé' accused him of breaking the law through tax evasion and in 1972, PM Chaban-Delmas canvassed for a vote of confidence in the Assembly. This he did obtain, but the President still managed to force his resignation.
Two years later, following the death in office of President Pompidou, M. Chaban-Delmas ran for the presidency himself. He was supported by the "lords of gaullism", but 43 personalities close to the now defunct president, led by Jacques Chirac, published the Call of the 43 in favour of the candidacy of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. M. Chaban-Delmas was defeated on the first ballot of the French presidential election, 1974, winning only 15.10% of the vote. M. Chirac became President Giscard d'Estaing's Prime Minister.
M. Chaban-Delmas stood in the Gaullist Party (RPR) and, in spite of M. Chirac's leadership, returned to the chair of the National Assembly (1978 - 1981). Due to his friendship with President Mitterrand, his name was mentioned as a possible Prime minister during the first "cohabitation" (1986 - 1988), but he instead became chairman of the National Assembly for the third time and M. Chirac again became Premier.
M. Chaban-Delmas retired in 1995, towards the end of his eighth term as Mayor of Bordeaux.
[edit] M. Chaban-Delmas's Cabinet; 22 June, 1969 – 6 July, 1972
- Minister of Foreign Affairs - Maurice Schumann
- ... National Defense - Michel Debré
- ... the Interior - Raymond Marcellin
- ... Economy and Finance - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
- ... Industrial and Scientific Development - François-Xavier Ortoli
- ... Labour, Employment, and Population - Joseph Fontanet
- ... Justice - René Pleven
- ... National Education - Olivier Guichard
- ... Veterans and War Victims - Henri Duvillard
- ... Cultural Affairs - Edmond Michelet
- ... Agriculture - Jacques Duhamel
- ... Housing and Equipment - Albin Chalandon
- ... Transport - Raymond Mondon
- ... Relations with Parliament - Roger Frey
- ... Public Health and Social Security - Robert Boulin
- ... Posts and Telecommunications - Robert Galley
Changes
- 19 October, 1970 - André Bettencourt succeeds Michelet (d. 9 October) as interim Minister of Cultural Affairs
- 7 January, 1971 - Jacques Duhamel succeeds Bettencourt as Minister of Cultural Affairs. Michel Cointat succeeds Duhamel as Minister of Agriculture. Jean Chamant succeeds Mondon (d. 31 December, 1970) as Minister of Transport. Roger Frey becomes Minister of Administrative Reforms and is not replaced as Minister of Relations with Parliament.
- 25 February, 1971 - Pierre Messmer enters the ministry as Minister of Overseas Departments and Territories.
[edit] Trivia
 |
Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
Chaban-Delmas was a first class athlete, playing tennis for Racing Club de France before the war and rugby for CASG and C.A. Bèglais
- Finalist in the senior men's doubles of the French Open (1965)
- Champion of the senior men's doubles at the French Open (1970)
- Won a cap for France as a left wing against a British Empire XV in Richmond on April 28, 1945, ten days before the war ended in Europe (by that time he had been a general in the French Army for about a year!).
- His role was played by Julien Boisselier in the docu-fiction Le Grand Charles on Charles de Gaulle's life for which actor Bernard Farcy was nominated for an Emmy Award.
- He was portrayed by Alain Delon in the 1966 film Is Paris Burning? (French: Paris brûle-t-il ?). The film, directed by René Clément, depicts the events surrounding the liberation of Paris in August 1944.
