François Mitterrand

François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand 26 October 1916 8 January 1996 was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995 the longest holder of that position in the history of France As a former Socialist Party First Secretary he was the first leftwing politician to assume the presidency under the Fifth Republic Due to family influences Mitterrand started his political life on the Catholic nationalist right He served under the Vichy regime during its earlier years Subsequently he joined the Resistance moved to the left and held ministerial office several times under the Fourth Republic Mitterrand opposed Charles de Gaulles establishment of the Fifth Republic Although at times a politically isolated figure he outmanoeuvred rivals to become the lefts standard bearer in the 1965 and 1974 presidential elections before being elected president in the 1981 presidential election He was reelected in 1988 and remained in office until 1995 Mitterrand invited the Communist Party into his first government which was a controversial decision at the time However the Communists were boxed in as junior partners and rather than taking advantage saw their support eroded eventually leaving the cabinet in 1984 Early in his first term Mitterrand followed a radical leftwing economic agenda including nationalisation of key firms and the introduction of the 39hour work week He likewise pushed a progressive agenda with reforms such as the abolition of the death penalty and the end of a government monopoly in radio and television broadcasting He was also a strong promoter of French culture and implemented a range of Grands Projets However faced with economic tensions he soon abandoned his nationalization programme in favour of austerity and market liberalization policies In 1985 he was faced with a major controversy after ordering the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior a Greenpeace vessel docked in Auckland Later in 1991 he became the first French President to appoint a female prime minister Édith Cresson During his presidency Mitterrand was twice forced by the loss of a parliamentary majority into cohabitation governments with conservative cabinets led respectively by Jacques Chirac 19861988 and Édouard Balladur 19931995 Mitterrands foreign and defence policies built on those of his Gaullist predecessors except in regard to their reluctance to support European integration which he reversed His partnership with German chancellor Helmut Kohl advanced European integration via the Maastricht Treaty and he accepted German reunification Less than eight months after leaving office he died from the prostate cancer he had successfully concealed for most of his presidency Beyond making the French Left electable Mitterrand presided over the rise of the Socialist Party to dominance of the left and the decline of the oncedominant Communist Party Source Article François Mitterrand from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA