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Georges Pompidou
Georges Pompidou
	Pompidou in 1969
19th President of France
	In office; 20 June 1969 – 2 April 1974
Prime Minister	Jacques Chaban-Delmas; Pierre Messmer
Preceded by	Charles de Gaulle
Succeeded by	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Prime Minister of France
	In office; 14 April 1962 – 10 July 1968
President	Charles de Gaulle
Preceded by	Michel Debré
Succeeded by	Maurice Couve de Murville
Member of the Constitutional Council
	In office; 5 March 1959 – 14 April 1962
Appointed by	Charles de Gaulle
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Bernard Chenot
Additional positions
	(see § Offices and distinctions)
Personal details
Born	Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou; 5 July 1911; Montboudif, France
Died	2 April 1974 (aged 62); Paris, France
Resting place	Orvilliers Cemetery; Orvilliers, France
Political party	Union of Democrats for the Republic (1968–1974)
Other political; affiliations	Union for the New Republic (before 1968)
Spouse	Claude Cahour (m. 1935)
Children	Alain
Alma mater	École Normale Supérieure; Sciences Po
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	France
Branch/service	French Army
Years of service	1940
Rank	Lieutenant
Unit	141st Alpine Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	Second World War
Awards	Croix de Guerre

Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou (/ˈpɒmpɪduː/ POMP-id-oo; French: [ʒɔʁʒ(ə) pɔ̃pidu] ^ⓘ; 5 July 1911 – 2 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 to his death in 1974. He previously served as Prime Minister of France under President Charles de Gaulle from 1962 to 1968, a longevity record under the Fifth Republic.

In the context of the strong growth of the last years of the Trente Glorieuses, Pompidou continued De Gaulle's policy of modernisation, which was symbolised by the presidential use of the Concorde, the creation of large industrial groups and the launch of the high-speed train project (TGV). The government invested heavily in the automobile, agribusiness, steel, telecommunications, nuclear and aerospace sectors and also created the minimum wage (SMIC) and the Ministry of the Environment.

His foreign policy was pragmatic but in line with the Gaullist principle of French autonomy within the Western Bloc. It was marked by a warming of relations with Richard Nixon's United States, close relations with Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union, the launch of the snake in the tunnel and the relaunching of European construction by facilitating the United Kingdom's entry to the EEC in contrast to de Gaulle's opposition. Pompidou died in office in 1974 of Waldenström's disease, a rare form of blood cancer.

An admirer of contemporary art, Pompidou's name remains known worldwide for the Centre Pompidou, which he initiated and was inaugurated in 1977; it subsequently spread the name with its branches in Metz (France), Málaga (Spain), Brussels (Belgium) and Shanghai (China). A Georges Pompidou Museum is also dedicated to him in his hometown.

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.^[1]

Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou was born on 5 July 1911^[2] in the commune of Montboudif, in the department of Cantal, in south-central France.^[3] After his hypokhâgne at Lycée Pierre-de-Fermat^[4] 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:

The man gave the appearance of being secretive, wily, a little cunning—which he was, to a degree. However, it was primarily his intelligence, culture, and competence that conferred indisputable authority on him and commanded respect.... I remember his untamed eyebrows, his penetrating, very kindly gaze, his perceptive smile, full of humour and mischievousness, his voice with its wonderful low, warm, gravelly tone, and a figure that was both powerful and elegant. Naturally reserved, little given to emotional outbursts, Pompidou did not forge very close ties with his colleagues.^[5]

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.^[6] 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^{[by whom?]} 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.^[7]

Presidency

After the failure of the 1969 constitutional referendum, de Gaulle resigned and Pompidou was elected president of France.^[8] 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%).^[9] 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.^[10]

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.^[11]

Pompidou sought to maintain good relations with the newly independent former French colonies in Africa. 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.^[12]

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.

Pompidou with US president Richard Nixon in Reykjavík, 31 May 1973
Pompidou with West German chancellor Willy Brandt in Cologne, 3 July 1972

Death in office

While still in office, Pompidou died on 2 April 1974, at 9 PM in his apartment,^[13] 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.^[13]

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.^[14] The official memorial service for him was held at Notre-Dame de Paris with 3,000 dignitaries in attendance (including 28 heads of state and representatives from 82 countries). April 6 was declared a national day of mourning and entertainment and cultural events were canceled, theatres and schools closed.^[15]^[16]

Attendees included:

United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim
Director General of UNESCO René Maheu
President of the European Commission Jean Rey
Secretary-General of NATO Joseph Luns
French (Interim) President Alain Poher
U.S. president Richard Nixon
Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
British prime minister Harold Wilson and predecessor Edward Heath
West German Chancellor Willy Brandt
East German Vice President Manfred Gerlach
Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky
Swiss President Hans-Peter Tschudi
Moroccan King Hassan II
Belgian King Baudouin
Dutch Queen Juliana
Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie
Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba
Italian President Giovanni Leone
Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit
Finnish President Urho Kekkonen
Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny
Yugoslav Prime Minister Petar Stambolić
Czechoslovak President Gustáv Husák
Danish Prime Minister Poul Hartling
Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme
Portuguese President Américo Tomás
Spanish Crown Prince Juan Carlos I of Spain
Monégasque Prince Rainier III
Luxembourgish Grand Duke Jean
Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka^[17]
South Korean Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil^[18]
North Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyễn Duy Trinh
South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu

A controversy arose surrounding the secrecy kept over Pompidou's illness, and the political class agreed that future presidents of the Republic 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, after his accession to power, the severity of the cancer from which he was suffering.^[19]

Pompidou's wife Claude Pompidou would outlive him by more than thirty years.^[20] The couple had one (adopted) son, Alain Pompidou, who went on to serve as president of the European Patent Office.^[20] France withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, which took place just four days after Pompidou's death, as a mark of respect.^[21]

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

Presidential standard of Georges Pompidou

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);^[22]
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) ^[23]
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) ^[24]

Honors

He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Delhi during his tenure as Prime Minister.^[25]

References

^ e Georges Pompidou georges-pompidou.org Archived 4 November 2021 at the Wayback Machine 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.
^ "Fichier des décès – années 1970 à 1979" [Death file – years 1970 to 1979] (in French). National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
^ Wall, E. H. (1976). "Pompidou, Georges Jean Raymond". In William D. Halsey (ed.). Collier's Encyclopedia. Vol. 19. Macmillan Educational Corporation. p. 236.
^ "Toulouse : Une plaque en mémoire de Georges Pompidou au lycée Fermat".
^ Jacques Chirac, M Life and Politics (2011) p. 24
^ "France in political crisis after no-confidence vote topples government". The Guardian. 4 December 2024. Archived from the original on 9 December 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
^ Kresl, Peter Karl; Gallais, Sylvain (1 January 2002). France Encounters Globalization. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 9781782543800. Archived from the original on 1 August 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
^ Robert J. Jackson, "The Succession of Georges Pompidou: The French presidential election of 1969, Political Quarterly (1970) 41#2 pp 156-168
^ Berstein, Serge; Rioux, Jean-Pierre (2000). The Cambridge History of Modern France: The Pompidou Years, 1969–1974. Cambridge University Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 9780521580618. Archived from the original on 17 June 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
^ Frank L. Wilson, "Gaullism without de Gaulle," Western Political Quarterly (1973) 26#3 pp. 485–506 in JSTOR Archived 2 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine
^ Trachtenberg, 2001
^ Edward A. Kolodziej, French Foreign Policy under de Gaulle and Pompidou: The Politics of Grandeur (1974).
^ ^a ^b Robertson, Nan (3 April 1974). "President Pompidou Dead after almost Five Years as De Gaulle's Successor". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
^ Kamm, Henry (5 April 1974). "Pompidou is Buried in Village Cemetery". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
^ "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". Retrieved 20 November 2023.
^ "French Proclaim Poher President". The New York Times. 4 April 1974.
^ "Georges Pompidou Notre Dame Pictures and Images". Getty Images. 5 April 1974. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
^ "김 총리 오늘 향불". 4 April 1974. Archived from the original on 9 December 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
^ Philippe Kohly, documentary La France maladie du pouvoir, in Histoire immédiate, 2012.
^ ^a ^b "Claude Pompidou". The Daily Telegraph. 5 July 2007. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
^ "Brighton 1974". Eurovision. 2002–19. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
^ He owns this decoration by right as President of the Republic.
^ "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". Twitter. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
^ "Le onorificenze della Repubblica Italiana". Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
^ "François Hollande devient docteur honoris causa par l'université d'Athènes". le figaro. 22 October 2015.