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Name
Jacques Rene Chirac
Official Site
Personal Information
Born - November 29, 1932 in Paris, France.
Marital Status - Married, two children - two boys.
Education - Political Science (Institute for Political Studies, National School of Administration, and Harvard University).
Personal History
Jacques Chirac was born in Paris on November 29, 1932. His father was a bank clerk and later an executive for an aircraft company. He graduated from the well-known Lycee Carnot and the prestigious Lycee Louis-le-Grand with honors in 1950. He attended the Institut d'Etudes Politiques -- a university that prepares people for public service and politics. In 1953, he attended Harvard University. Commissioned as an officer in the French army, Chirac was wounded in France's colonial war with Algeria. In 1959, he graduated from the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, an elite school for government service.
Political Activity
Jacques Chirac is the current President of the French Republic. In 1960, Chirac launched what was to become a long government career by working as an auditor in the French government's general accounting office. By 1962 he had joined the staff of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou. Under Pompidou he became undersecretary of state for social affairs, where he handled unemployment. In 1967, Chirac was elected to the National Assembly. He played a prominent role in negotiating a truce in the student and worker strikes of 1968. When De Gaulle resigned and Pompidou became president in 1969, Chirac was appointed secretary of state for the economy and finance. Chirac was appointed minister of agriculture and rural development in 1973, and the following year, minister of the interior. When Valery Giscard d'Estaing became president, he named Chirac Prime Minister. Chirac was elected mayor of Paris in 1977 and again elected as a member of the National Assembly. In 1986 he became, for the second time, Prime Minister of France. He was reelected to the National Assembly and reelected mayor of Paris, but lost the presidential election to Francois Mitterrand. Afterward, Chirac represented one of two political extremes chosen by the French voters. Chirac stayed very much in the center- right Gaullist mold, standing for lower tax rates, removal of price controls, strong punishments for crime and terrorism and the privatization of businesses. Chirac ran for president in 1981 but was defeated at the time France made a political swing in the opposite direction. In 1981, as politics in other Western nations turned toward the right, putting into power centrist-conservative politicians like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the French voters put the political left into power. Buoyed by widespread popularity and the support of France's powerful Communist Party, Mitterrand became president. His new socialist government raised taxes, nationalized banks and went on a public spending spree. Defeated in the presidential race of 1988, Chirac remained mayor of Paris and active in Parliament. Chirac was elected president of France in 1995 but has spent much of his time in office attempting to assuage an angry, disillusioned electorate.


Additional Information
Critics say Jacques Chirac has failed to deliver on his economic promises. Unemployment in France remains among the highest in the European Union, and the first general strike in almost a decade brought the country to a virtual standstill. Allegations of corruption have caused Chirac's ratings to plunge in the opinion polls. Armed troops patrol the city following a rash of explosions by an Algerian militant organization.

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