Radio France Internationale: The ambiguous legacy of François Mitterrand, France's transformational president
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François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was President of France from 1981 to 1995. He was the first left-wing politician to assume the presidency under the Fifth Republic, successfully remaining in office longer than any other republican head of state in French history.
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culture · President of France from 1981 to 1995 · politician · lawyer · journalist · also François Mitterrand, Mitterrand
Born 26 October 1916 · Died 8 January 1996 · Q2038
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2026· 1 entry
2025· 1 entry
The Conversation: François Mitterrand, à l’origine du déclin de l’influence postcoloniale de la France en Afrique ?
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2024· 2 entries
Snopes rated the claim “U.S. President Joe Biden said that he spoke in 2021 with former French President Francois Mitterrand, who died in 1996.” Correct Attribution.
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c-span: User Clip: François Mitterrand
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2023· 1 entry
Moviefone: François Mitterrand : que reste-t-il de nos amours ?
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2021· 1 entry
Snopes.com rated the claim “Jacques Attali, a former adviser to French President François Mitterrand, supported a pandemic-driven mass killing in his 1981 book "Verbatim."” False.
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2016· 2 entries
The Forward: Was Francois Mitterrand an Anti-Semite? It’s Complicated.
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The Conversation: François Mitterrand, un modèle de communication dépassé pour l’Élysée
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2014· 2 entries
The Washington Post: ‘A Taste for Intrigue: The Multiple Lives of François Mitterrand’ by Philip Short
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Foreign Affairs: A Taste for Intrigue: The Multiple Lives of François Mitterrand
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2011· 1 entry
Les: François Mitterrand et l’Afrique: de l’espoir aux déceptions
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2008· 1 entry
The French state was ordered by the courts to give Jean-Edern Hallier's family compensation
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2000· 1 entry
But it still took another four years before coming on 15 November 2004 before the 16th chamber of the Tribunal correctionnel de Paris
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1999· 1 entry
Won: Czech Republic (1999).
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1997· 1 entry
For corruption offences, for which he received a two-year suspended sentence
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1996· 1 entry
Died 1996-01-08.
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1995· 1 entry
Who stated that it was time that France faced up to its past
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1994· 2 entries
Won: South Africa (1994).
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While President of France, Mitterrand maintained that the roundup of Jews who were then deported to death camps during the war was solely the work of "Vichy France", an entity distinct from France: "The Republic had noth
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1993· 4 entries
Won: Poland (1993).
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Won: South Korea (1993).
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Won: Yemen (October 1993).
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By Libération; the case against members of the cell went to trial in November 2004
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1992· 5 entries
Won: United Kingdom (1992).
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Won: Luxembourg (1992).
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Won: Latvia (May 1992).
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Awarded Royal Victorian Chain (1992).
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Awarded Honorary doctor of the University of Liège (1992).
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1991· 3 entries
Won: Netherlands (1991).
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And appointed Édith Cresson to replace him
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Became the first French President to appoint a female prime minister, Édith Cresson
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1990· 5 entries
Won: Czechoslovakia (1990).
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Won: Pakistan (February 1990).
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Won: Madagascar (1990).
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Won: Venezuela (1990).
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François Mitterrand declared an amnesty for those under investigation, thus ending the affair
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1989· 4 entries
Won: Philippines (July 1989).
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Won: Oman (1989).
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Won: Greece (1989).
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When two police officers investigating the Marseille regional office of Urba discovered detailed minutes of the organisation's contracts, which showed a division of proceeds between the party and elected officials
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1988· 2 entries
Awarded Charlemagne Prize (1988).
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“neither nationalisation nor privatization”
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1987· 4 entries
Won: Peru (October 1987).
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Won: Argentina (October 1987).
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Won: Djibouti (1987).
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Won: Portugal (October 1987).
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1986· 1 entry
Won: Indonesia (1986).
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1985· 6 entries
Won: Zaire (1985).
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Won: Morocco (1985).
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Won: Togo (1985).
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Was faced with a major controversy after ordering the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace vessel docked in Auckland
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Became responsible for each other’s debts
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Enabled holders of a Brevet d'études professionnelles (or in some cases of a Certificat d’aptitude professionnelle) to continue for another two years and study for the baccalauréat
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1984· 11 entries
Won: Rwanda (1984).
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Won: United Kingdom (1984).
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Won: Syria (1984).
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Awarded Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Saint Olav (1984).
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Awarded Member 2nd Class of the Order of the Umayyads (1984).
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Earned Gold Olympic Order (1984).
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Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav (1984).
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Won: Norway (1984).
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Won: Monaco (1984).
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Won: Sweden (May 1984).
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A law was passed to ensure that divorced women who were not in receipt of maintenance would be provided with assistance in recovering the shortfall in their income from their former husband
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1983· 16 entries
Won: Nepal (May 1983).
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Won: Morocco (1983).
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Won: Belgium (1983).
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Won: Burundi (1983).
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Won: Cameroon (1983).
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Won: Benin (1983).
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Won: Togo (1983).
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Won: Yugoslavia (December 1983).
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Won: Tunisia (1983).
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Won: Germany (1983).
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Won: Iceland (April 1983).
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Won: San Marino (1983).
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Won: Portugal (September 1983).
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Awarded Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (1983).
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Legislation was passed to encourage greater equality in the private sector
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All members of the general pension scheme obtained the right to a full pension at the age of 60 payable at a rate of half the reference wage in return for 37
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1982· 14 entries
Won: Finland (1982).
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Won: Japan (1982).
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Won: Niger (May 1982).
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Won: Senegal (May 1982).
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Won: Austria (June 1982).
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Won: Lebanon (1982).
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Won: Italy (July 1982).
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Won: Spain (1982).
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Awarded Collar of the Order of Isabella the Catholic (1982).
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Won: Denmark (1982).
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Awarded honorary doctor of Waseda University (1982).
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Awarded Knight of the Order of the Elephant (1982).
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Awarded Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1982).
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After they were accused of large-scale industrial and military espionage
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1981· 10 entries
Won: Mexico (October 1981).
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Awarded Financial Times Person of the Year (1981).
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Led the British writer Anthony Daniels (writing under his pseudonym of Theodore Dalrymple) to accuse François Mitterrand of being an unprincipled opportunist, a cynical politician who proudly confirmed death sentences of
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Career landmark: President of the French Republic (1981–1995).
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Career landmark: French co-prince of Andorra (1981–1995).
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And the elements of his past in the Vichy Régime which were not already public knowledge
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(previously, parental leave provision had been made in 1977 for firms employing at least 200 employees) and subsequently to all employees in 1984
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As part of a systematic effort to combat underachievement in schools, while technical education was encouraged
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The purchasing power of social transfers went up by 4
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And in the two years following May 1981 family allowances were increased by 44% for families with 3 children and by 81% for families with 2 children
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1978· 1 entry
Career landmark: député de la Nièvre (1978–1981).
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1977· 1 entry
The Communist and Socialist parties failed to update the Common Programme, and then lost the 1978 legislative election
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1973· 1 entry
Career landmark: député de la Nièvre (1973–1978).
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1971· 2 entries
By the Socialist Party to advise Socialist-led communes on infrastructure projects and public works
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Career landmark: First Secretary of the French Socialist Party (1971–1981).
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1969· 1 entry
Mitterrand could not run for the Presidency: Guy Mollet refused to give him the support of the SFIO
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1968· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the French National Assembly (1968–1973).
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1967· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the French National Assembly (1967–1968).
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1965· 2 entries
When François Mitterrand emerged as the challenger to de Gaulle in the second round of the presidential elections, de Gaulle was urged by an aide to use the Observatory Affair to discredit his opponent
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Mitterrand was the first left-wing politician who saw the presidential election by universal suffrage as a way to defeat the opposition leadership
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1964· 1 entry
Career landmark: president of the general council (1964–1981).
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1962· 1 entry
Career landmark: member of the French National Assembly (1962–1967).
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1961· 1 entry
During the worst of the Great Chinese Famine, but denied the existence of starvation
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1960· 1 entry
Which followed the relative failure of the 1958 creation of the French Community
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1959· 2 entries
Career landmark: Senator of the French Fifth Republic (1959–1961).
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Career landmark: Mayor of Château-Chinon (Ville) (1959–1981).
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1958· 1 entry
Mitterrand was one of the few to object to the nomination of Charles de Gaulle as head of government and to de Gaulle's plan for a Fifth Republic
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1956· 2 entries
Career landmark: député de la Nièvre (1956–1958).
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Career landmark: Minister of Justice (1956–1957).
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1951· 2 entries
Career landmark: député de la Nièvre (1951–1955).
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Career landmark: Minister for Overseas France (1951–1951).
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1950· 1 entry
Career landmark: Minister for Overseas France (1950–1951).
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1947· 2 entries
Career landmark: Minister of Veterans Affairs (1947–1948).
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Career landmark: Minister of Justice (1947–1947).
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1946· 2 entries
Career landmark: député de la Nièvre (1946–1951).
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Reelected in 1951, 1956, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1973, 1978
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1943· 2 entries
Awarded Order of the Francisque (1943).
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Giraud was contesting with de Gaulle for the leadership of the French Resistance
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1942· 1 entry
In the age of consent between homosexual and heterosexual relations
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1938· 2 entries
And joined the 23rd Colonial Infantry Regiment (RIC) [fr] at Fort d'Ivry
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Became the best friend of Georges Dayan, a Jewish socialist, whom he saved from anti-Semitic aggressions by the national-royalist movement Action française
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1916· 1 entry
Born 1916-10-26.
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