Georges Pompidou

Early life

The family of Georges Pompidou was of very modest origins. He was the grandson of farmers of modest means in Cantal on both his father's and his mother's side. His case is thus often cited as a typical example of social mobility in the Third Republic because of public schooling.

Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou was born on 5 July 1911 in the commune of Montboudif, in the department of Cantal, in south-central France. After his hypokhâgne at Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat and his khâgne at Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he befriended the future Senegalese poet and statesman Léopold Sédar Senghor, Pompidou attended the École Normale Supérieure from which he graduated with a degree of agrégation in literature.

He first taught literature at the lycée Henri IV in Paris until he was hired in 1953 by Guy de Rothschild to work at Rothschild. In 1956, he was appointed the bank's general manager, a position that he held until 1962. Later, he was hired by Charles de Gaulle to manage the Anne de Gaulle Foundation for Down syndrome (de Gaulle's youngest daughter, Anne, had Down syndrome).

Prime minister

Jacques Chirac served as an aide to Prime Minister Pompidou and recalled: He served as prime minister of France under de Gaulle after Michel Debré resigned, from 14 April 1962 to 10 July 1968, and to this day is the longest serving French prime minister under the Fifth Republic. His nomination was controversial because he was not a member of the National Assembly. In October 1962, he was defeated in a vote of no-confidence, but de Gaulle dissolved the National Assembly. This was the last time a French government fell to a confidence vote until the collapse of Michel Barnier's government in 2024. The Gaullists won the legislative election and Pompidou was reappointed as prime minister.

In 1964, he was faced with a miners' strike. He led the 1967 legislative campaign of the Union of Democrats for the Fifth Republic to a narrow victory. Pompidou was widely regarded as being responsible for the peaceful resolution of the student uprising of May 1968. His strategy was to break the coalition of students and workers by negotiating with the trade-unions and employers (Grenelle conference).

During the events of May 1968, disagreements arose between Pompidou and de Gaulle. Pompidou did not understand why the President did not inform him of his departure to Baden-Baden on 29 May. Their relationship, until then very good, would be strained from then on. Pompidou led and won the 1968 legislative campaign, overseeing a tremendous victory of the Gaullist Party. He then resigned. Nevertheless, in part due to his actions during the May 1968 crisis, he appeared as the natural successor to de Gaulle. Pompidou announced his candidature for the Presidency in January 1969.

In social policy, Pompidou's tenure as prime minister witnessed the establishment of the National Employment Fund in 1963 to counter the negative effects on employment caused by industrial restructuring.

Presidency

After the failure of the 1969 constitutional referendum, de Gaulle resigned and Pompidou was elected president of France. In the general election of 15 June 1969, he defeated the centrist president of the Senate and acting president Alain Poher by a wide margin (58% to 42%). Though a Gaullist, Pompidou was more pragmatic than de Gaulle, notably facilitating the accession of the United Kingdom to the European Community on 1 January 1973. He embarked on an industrialisation plan and initiated the Arianespace project, as well as the TGV project, and furthered the French civilian nuclear programme. He was sceptical about the "New Society" programme of his prime minister, Jacques Chaban-Delmas. In 1972, he replaced Chaban-Delmas with Pierre Messmer, a more conservative Gaullist. While the left-wing opposition organised itself and proposed a Common Programme before the 1973 legislative election, Pompidou widened his presidential majority by including Centrist pro-European parties. In addition, he paid special attention to regional and local needs in order to strengthen his political party, the UDR (Union des Democrates pour la Ve République), which he made a central and lasting force in the Gaullist movement.

Foreign affairs

The United States was eager to restore positive relations with France after de Gaulle's departure from office. New US President Richard Nixon and his top adviser Henry Kissinger admired Pompidou; the politicians were in agreement on most major policy issues. The United States offered to help the French nuclear programme. Economic difficulties, however, arose following the Nixon Shock and the 1973–1975 recession, particularly over the role of the American dollar as the medium for world trade.

Pompidou sought to maintain good relations with the newly independent former French colonies in Africa, relying on such powerful figures as Jacques Foccart and René Journiac who maintained informal networks with African strongmen. In 1971, he visited Mauritania, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and Gabon. He brought a message of cooperation and financial assistance, but without the traditional paternalism. More broadly, he made an effort to foster closer relations with North African and Middle Eastern countries in order to develop a hinterland including all nations bordering the Mediterranean.

Modernising Paris

Pompidou's time in office was marked by constant efforts to modernise France's capital city. He spearheaded construction of a modern art museum, the Centre Beaubourg (renamed Centre Pompidou after his death), on the edge of the Marais area of Paris. Other attempts at modernisation included tearing down the open-air markets at Les Halles and replacing them with the shopping mall of the same name, building the Montparnasse Tower, and constructing an expressway on the right bank of the Seine.

Nixon-Pompidou.JPG|Pompidou with US president Richard Nixon in Reykjavík, 31 May 1973 Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F037099-0021, Köln, Staatsempfang für Präsident Pompidou.jpg|Pompidou with West German chancellor Willy Brandt in Cologne, 3 July 1972

Death in office

Main article: Illness and death of Georges Pompidou

While still in office, Pompidou died on 2 April 1974 at his apartment, from Waldenström macroglobulinemia. Although his illness had not been disclosed and the government officially denied any health problems, there were reports of ill health and speculation of possible cancer during his last year in office. However, even on the day of his death, Pompidou had a visit scheduled from Rwandan President Grégoire Kayibanda.

His body was buried on 4 April, in the churchyard of Orvilliers, where he had bought an old baker's house which he turned into a weekend home. The official memorial service for him was held at Notre-Dame de Paris with 3,000 dignitaries in attendance, including foreign heads of state. April 6 was declared a national day of mourning and entertainment and cultural events were canceled, theatres and schools closed.

A controversy arose surrounding the secrecy kept over Pompidou's illness, and the political class agreed that future presidents would have to provide reports on the state of their health; however, President François Mitterrand, who had pledged during his 1981 campaign to publish regular health bulletins, would also conceal the severity of his cancer during his presidency.

Personal life

Pompidou was married to Claude Cahour, who would outlive him by more than thirty years. The couple adopted a son, Alain Pompidou, who went on to serve as a Member of the European Parliament and, later, as president of the European Patent Office.

Works

• Anthologie de la Poésie Française, Livre de Poche/Hachette, 1961
• Le Nœud gordien, éd. Plon, 1974
• Entretiens et discours, deux vol., éd. Plon, 1975
• Pour rétablir une vérité, éd. Flammarion, 1982

Medals

• Legion of Honour:
  • Chevalier de la Legion of Honour: (France) (1948)
  • Officier de la Legion of Honour: (France) (1957)
  • Grand-croix de la Legion of Honour: 1969, grand-maître de l'ordre (France) (1969–1974, as president of the republic)
• Grand-croix de l'Ordre national du Mérite (France);
• Grand Cross of Order of St. Olav (Norway, 1962)
• Knight Grand Cross Order of St. Sylvester (Vatican City, 1964)
• Grand Cross of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (1969)
• Knight Grand Cross Order of the Netherlands Lion (Nederland, 1969)
• Grand Cordon of Order of Leopold (Belgium, 1972)
• First Class of the Star of the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesia, 1972)
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau (Luxembourg, 1972)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Poland, 1972)
• Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (United Kingdom, 1972)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of Independence (Tunisia, 1972)
• Knight Grand Cross with Collar of Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy, 1973)

Honors

He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Delhi during his tenure as prime minister.

References

References

1. Ministère des armées - 92è Régiment d'infantrie [https://www.defense.gouv.fr/terre/unites-larmee-terre/nos-brigades/2e-brigade-blindee-2e-bb/92e-regiment-dinfanterie]
2. [https://www.georges-pompidou.org/sites/default/files/centenaire_pompidou.pdf e Georges Pompidou] georges-pompidou.org {{Webarchive. link. (4 November 2021 ''Centenaire de la naissance du président Georges Pompidou 1911-2011'', Repères biographiques de Georges Pompidou ({{p.). 18), [[Centre Pompidou]], direction de la communication, dossier de presse.
3. "Fichier des décès – années 1970 à 1979". National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.
4. Wall, E. H.. (1976). "Pompidou, Georges Jean Raymond". Macmillan Educational Corporation.
5. "Toulouse : Une plaque en mémoire de Georges Pompidou au lycée Fermat".
6. [[Jacques Chirac]], ''M Life and Politics'' (2011) p. 24
7. (4 December 2024). "France in political crisis after no-confidence vote topples government". [[The Guardian]].
8. (1 January 2002). "France Encounters Globalization". Edward Elgar Publishing.
9. Robert J. Jackson, "The Succession of Georges Pompidou: The French presidential election of 1969, ''[[Political Quarterly]]'' (1970) 41#2 pp 156-168
10. (2000). "The Cambridge History of Modern France: The Pompidou Years, 1969–1974". [[Cambridge University Press]].
11. Frank L. Wilson, "Gaullism without de Gaulle," ''[[Western Political Quarterly]]'' (1973) 26#3 pp. 485–506 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/446435 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive. link. (2 August 2020)
12. Trachtenberg, 2001
13. Johnson, Douglas. (20 March 1997). "Obituary: Jacques Foccart". Independent Print Limited.
14. Servenay, David. (2023). "Une histoire de la Françafrique: L'empire qui ne veut pas mourir". [[Éditions du Seuil.
15. Edward A. Kolodziej, ''French Foreign Policy under de Gaulle and Pompidou: The Politics of Grandeur'' (1974).
16. Robertson, Nan. (3 April 1974). "President Pompidou Dead after almost Five Years as De Gaulle's Successor". [[The New York Times]].
17. Kamm, Henry. (5 April 1974). "Pompidou is Buried in Village Cemetery". [[The New York Times]].
18. "Décret du 3 avril 1974 FIXANT LE SAMEDI 6 AVRIL 1974 JOUR DE DEUIL NATIONAL EN RAISON DU DECES DE M. GEORGES POMPIDOU, PRESIDENT DE LA REPUBLIQUE - Légifrance".
19. (4 April 1974). "French Proclaim Poher President". The New York Times.
20. Philippe Kohly, documentary ''La France maladie du pouvoir'', in ''Histoire immédiate'', 2012.
21. (5 July 2007). "Claude Pompidou". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
22. He owns this decoration by right as President of the Republic.
23. "Van 19 tot en met 20 november zal het inkomend staatsbezoek van Frankrijk van Zijne Excellentie de heer Emmanuel Macron, President van de Franse Republiek en mevrouw Brigitte Macron aan België plaatsvinden".
24. "Le onorificenze della Repubblica Italiana".
25. (22 October 2015). "François Hollande devient docteur honoris causa par l'université d'Athènes".