Jacques Chaban-Delmas
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Jacques Chaban-Delmas (March 7, 1915–November 10, 2000) was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972.
Jacques Chaban-Delmas was born Jacques Delmas; in the resistance underground, his final pseudonym was Chaban, and, after World War II, he formally changed his name to Chaban-Delmas. General of a brigade in the resistance, he took part in the Parisian insurrection of August 1944.
Member of the Radical Party, he joined the Gaullist Rally of the French People (RPF). For almost half a century (1947-1995) he served as mayor of Bordeaux and deputy of the Gironde département.
As the RPF split (and Charles De Gaulle's supposed retirement), M. Chaban-Delmas took the lead of the Gaullist parliamentary group calling itself Social Republicans. He participated in the last cabinets of the Fourth Republic and "tied up" with center-left parties in the Republican Front.
Following Gen. De Gaulle's return to power in 1958, M. Chaban-Delmas took part in the foundation of the Union for the New Republic (UNR) and was chairman of the French National Assembly during the de Gaulle presidency (1958 - 1969).
In 1969, when Georges Pompidou accedeed to the presidency, he chose M. Chaban-Delmas as Prime minister, who had concluded that the May 68 crisis was the consequence of a strained and conflicted society. He tried to promote what he called "a new society", based on dialogue between the social forces. He relaxed the government authority over mass media. As a result, he was viewed as too "progressive" by the "conservative" wing of the Gaullist movement. A latent conflict opposed M. Chaban-Delmas to President Pompidou and the presidential circle. The satiric paper 'Le Canard Enchainé' accused him of breaking the law through tax evasion and in 1972, PM Chaban-Delmas canvassed for a vote of confidence in the Assembly. This he did obtain, but the President still managed to force his resignation.
Two years later, following the death in office of President Pompidou, M. Chaban-Delmas ran for the presidency himself. He was supported by the "lords of gaullism", but 43 personalities close to the now defunct president, led by Jacques Chirac, published the Call of the 43 in favour of the candidacy of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. M. Chaban-Delmas was defeated on the first ballot of the French presidential election, 1974, winning only 15.10% of the vote. M. Chirac became President d'Estaing's Prime Minister.
M. Chaban-Delmas stood in the Gaullist Party (UNR) and, in spite of M. Chirac's leadership, returned to the chair of the National Assembly (1978 - 1981). Due to his friendship with President Mitterrand, his name was mentioned as a possible Prime minister during the first "cohabitation" (1986 - 1988), but he instead became chairman of the National Assembly for the third time and M. Chirac again became Premier.
[edit] M. Chaban-Delmas's Cabinet; 22 June, 1969 – 6 July, 1972
- Minister of Foreign Affairs - Maurice Schumann
- ... National Defense - Michel Debré
- ... the Interior - Raymond Marcellin
- ... Economy and Finance - Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
- ... Industrial and Scientific Development - François-Xavier Ortoli
- ... Labour, Employment, and Population - Joseph Fontanet
- ... Justice - René Pleven
- ... National Education - Olivier Guichard
- ... Veterans and War Victims - Henri Duvillard
- ... Cultural Affairs - Edmond Michelet
- ... Agriculture - Jacques Duhamel
- ... Housing and Equipment - Albin Chalandon
- ... Transport - Raymond Mondon
- ... Relations with Parliament - Roger Frey
- ... Public Health and Social Security - Robert Boulin
- ... Posts and Telecommunications - Robert Galley
Changes
- 19 October, 1970 - André Bettencourt succeeds Michelet (d. 9 October) as interim Minister of Cultural Affairs
- 7 January, 1971 - Jacques Duhamel succeeds Bettencourt as Minister of Cultural Affairs. Michel Cointat succeeds Duhamel as Minister of Agriculture. Jean Chamant succeeds Mondon (d. 31 December, 1970) as Minister of Transport. Roger Frey becomes Minister of Administrative Reforms and is not replaced as Minister of Relations with Parliament.
- 25 February, 1971 - Pierre Messmer enters the ministry as Minister of Overseas Departments and Territories.
[edit] Trivia
Chaban-Delmas was a first class athlete, playing tennis for Racing Club de France before the war and rugby for CASG
- Finalist in the senior men's doubles of the French Open (1965)
- Champion of the senior men's doubles at the French Open (1970)
- Won a cap for France as a left wing against a British Empire XV in Richmond on April 28, 1945, ten days before the war ended in Europe (by that time he had been a general in the French Army for about a year!).
