[Blog] In the context of the French National Day : The personal tragedies of Jacques Chirac

On the occasion of the French National Day, it is not inopportune to delve into some aspects of the life of one of its last presidents: Jacques Chirac. He marked French history by being Prime Minister on two occasions (1974–76, 1986–88) and was elected twice as the President of the Republic (1995, 2002), thus serving 12 years at the supreme post. He singularised himself by endorsing the legacy of De Gaulle, emphasizing French exceptionalism and marking its difference from American hegemony, though the end of his career was not so glorious. All this is well known and is part of history.

What is less known, however, are the personal tragedies of Jacques Chirac. As Frantz-Olivier Giesbert, the author who followed him everywhere and on whom he confided, puts it: "Si vous regardez la vie de Chirac, c'est un homme d'un naturel gai et chaleureux, qui n'a connu que très peu de moments de bonheur". In fact, Chirac faced many tribulations in his private as well as public life. He had two daughters, Laurence and Claude. The eldest one, Laurence, was a source of great suffering for him. She suffered from acute anorexia. At first it was thought that this was just a whim of adolescence, but in her case the problem persisted and became aggravated with the passing of time. She had no appetite at all and bordered on depression all the time, despite being treated by the best psychologists and best physicians in the best institutions. She made several attempts at suicide. 

On 13th April 1987, while the Chiracs were holidaying in Thailand, she jumped on the ground from the 4th floor of her apartment. She suffered serious injuries but survived. Rumours began circulating that she had died and had been secretly buried. All these had a strong toll on the morale of the parents. As Bernadette Chirac pointed out, both her husband and herself were "dans un terrible désert moral et affectif". After other attempts at suicide, Laurence disappeared from public view and was usually referred to as 'l'absente'. On 14th April 2016 she died of a massive heart attack. In order not to lose his second daughter and to compensate for being too absent from home, Jacques Chirac doted on Claude, showered her with affection and even overprotected her. 

To keep her by his side, he appointed her as a sort of private secretary who looked after his meetings and appointments, controlled his agenda and apparently had a strong influence on him. But Claude too faced personal tragedies. She was unhappy in love. Her first relationship was with the judo champion, Thierry Rey, who gave her a son in March 1996 and left soon after. She then had a long affair with actor Vincent Lindon before getting married to a Figaro columnist and lecturer in political science, Philippe Habert. They seemed to be head over heels in love with each other. However, when they went to Venice for honeymoon Claude discovered that she was not on the same wavelength with her husband and on their return, she began to live separately. She asked for divorce. A few months later, the corpse of Philippe was found in his apartment, apparently the result of a desperate act of suicide.

But it is in his political life that Jacques Chirac was the butt of bitter betrayal on the part of his collaborators. The betrayal that hurt him the most was that of Nicolas Sarkozy. They first met in 1975. It was like a "coup de foudre". Chirac was impressed by the dynamism and forceful ambition of this young man. "Come with me" he told him. "You are gifted for politics". Sarkozy indeed followed Chirac and became his close collaborator. Their relationship was like father and son. He even developed a strong bond of friendship with Chirac's daughter, Claude. However, when the time came to support the candidature of Chirac for the presidential election in 1995, he opted for Edouard Balladur and canvassed actively with much zeal and enthusiasm for the latter. Chirac was devastated. "Et tu Brute", one is tempted to say.

Regarding Balladur, it was the same man who shared a bond of friendship with Chirac for thirty long years. The latter was his mentor in politics and propelled him to the forefront. He appointed him 'Ministre d'État' in 1986 when he served as the first Prime Minister of cohabitation under François Mitterrand. There was a tacit, even verbal, agreement between them to the effect that if Chirac won the presidential election in 1988, he would nominate Balladur as Prime Minister. Unfortunately, Chirac lost. Mitterrand was still contemplating to nominate him as Prime Minister of cohabitation once again, but Chirac showed no interest to play this role once again. Instead, he pushed forward the candidature of his friend and close collaborator Balladur, little knowing that the latter would use this platform to aim at the next presidency which Chirac considered legitimately as his personal aspiration. Their relations began to sour soon after Balladur's assumption of office as Prime Minister. He did not consult his previous mentor on the choice of his ministers. Chirac learned about them on TV like anybody else. He had no say in the political and economic orientation of the new government as he was not consulted as the leader of the majority party. 

In fact, Balladur concentrated on redressing the economy which the socialist Bérégovoy had left in tatters with his policy of "relance par la demande". GDP fell by 1.4%, the debt was colossal and some 5 million people were out of employment. There were major challenges ahead. As Helmut Kohl, the German Chancellor put it, "une nation industrielle n'est pas un parc de loisirs où les retraites sont de plus en plus jeunes, les étudiants de plus en plus âgés, les horaires de travail de plus en plus réduits et les congés de plus en plus longs".

Balladur began to tackle the economy with a first devaluation. His seriousness in tackling the economy won him popularity and the more he rose in the polls, the more he distanced himself from Chirac. He never mentioned the latter in his speeches and in private he would refer condescendingly to him as "ce pauvre garçon". One by one the collaborators began to desert Chirac who had nothing to say but "c'est dur toutes ces trahisons, très dur". The fatal blow to the erstwhile friendship came when Balladur announced his candidature to the presidential election of 1995 despite the agreement between himself and Chirac that he would serve as Prime Minister to the latter in the eventuality of Chirac winning the election.

Finally, Chirac won the election because he was a true "bête politique" but he could not forget the strings of betrayal.

Azize Bankur

Courtesy: La Tragédie du Président, Frantz-Olivier Giesbert, Flammarion, 2006