Official portrait: Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
© La Documentation française. Photo Bettina Rheims

29 November 1932 
Jacques Chirac was born in Paris.
He studied at the Lycée Carnot and Lycée Louis-le-Grand, then at Sciences Po Paris.

16 March 1956 
He married Bernadette Chodron de Courcel with whom he had two children. 

1957-1959
He attended the École Nationale d'Administration.

1962
He worked as an auditor at the Cour des Comptes. 
He was a special assistant at the Secretariat-General of the Government.
He was a special assistant in the Office of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou.

1965
He was a public auditor at the Cour des Comptes.

March 1965-March 1977
He was a Municipal Councillor for Sainte-Féréole (Department of Corrèze).

March 1965-March 1977
He was a Deputy for the Department of Corrèze.

1967-1968
He was a Minister of State for Social Affairs, responsible for employment problems (Government of Georges Pompidou).

1968
He was a Meymac Departmental Councillor, and was re-elected in 1970, 1976 and 1982.

1968-1971
He was the Minister of State for Economy and Finance (Governments of Georges Pompidou, Maurice Couve de Murville, Jacques Chaban-Delmas)

June-August 1968
He was the Union des Démocrates Républicains Deputy for the Department of Corrèze.

1969
He was the Treasurer of the Claude Pompidou Foundation, working on assistance for elderly people and children with disabilities.

1970 to March 1979
He was President of the Corrèze Departmental Council.

1971-1972
He was Minister Delegate for Relations with Parliament, attached to the Prime Minister (Government of Jacques Chaban-Delmas).

1972-1973
He was Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (Government of Pierre Messmer).

4 March-5 May 1973
He was re-elected Deputy for the Department of Corrèze.

1973-1974
He was Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (Government of Pierre Messmer).

1974
He served as Minister of the Interior (Government of Pierre Messmer).

27 May 1974
He became Prime Minister.

December 1974-June 1975
He was Secretary-General of the Union des Démocrates Républicains.

June 1975
He was honorary Secretary-General of the UDR.

25 August 1976
He presented the resignation of his Government.

1976-15 May 1995
He was re-elected Deputy for the Department of Corrèze (3rd constituency).

5 December 1976-12 November 1994
He was elected President of the Rassemblement Pour la République (RPR).

20 March 1977-16 May 1995
He was elected Mayor of Paris.

1 May 1979
He was elected President of the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF).

10 June 1979
He was elected Member of the European Parliament (defence of France’s interests in Europe list), he resigned in 1980.

20 March 1986-10 May 1988
He served as Prime Minister (cohabitation).

7 May 1995
He was elected President of the French Republic.

17 May 1995
He was inaugurated into office as the President of the Republic.

5 May 2002
He was re-elected President of the Republic.

16 May 2007
He left the Élysée Palace after the inauguration ceremony of Nicolas Sarkozy.

9 June 2008
He created the Chirac Foundation to promote sustainable development and dialogue among cultures.

26 September 2019 
He died in Paris.

Portrait of Jacques Chirac

Qui est Jacques Chirac ? | Archive vidéo INA

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Updated : 14 December 2022