Gaullist Party
Encyclopedia
In France
, the Gaullist Party is usually used to refer to the largest party professing to be Gaullist. Gaullism claimed to transcend the left/right rift (in a similar way to populist
parties elsewhere such as Fianna Fáil
in Ireland
). The current Gaullist party is the Union for a Popular Movement
.
Some personalities and voters defined themselves as "left-wing Gaullists" - a view often ascribed to leading Gaullist André Malraux
. However, most of Charles de Gaulle
's followers were conservative, and after his death, traditional left-wing voters ceased voting Gaullist and figures identified with the Gaullist left such as Jacques Chaban-Delmas
were gradually marginalised. Under its various names and acronyms, the Gaullist Party has been the dominant organization of the French right since the beginning of the Fifth Republic
(1958).
, General Charles de Gaulle
is the symbol of the French Resistance
to the Nazi occupation and the Vichy government. Yet, based in London
, then in Algiers
, he was forced to compromise with the domestic Resistance
movements dominated by various political forces (such as the Communists). In 1944, while France was liberated, De Gaulle presided over the provisional government
composed of Communists, Socialists, and Christian Democrats
. Because De Gaulle refused to create a great political party unifying the non-Communist Resistance, a lot of parties re-emerged. The Christian democratic Popular Republican Movement
(MRP) seemed to be the closest to De Gaulle.
The provisional government implemented policies inspired by the programme of the National Council of Resistance: nationalization of banks and some industrial companies (for example Renault
), and the development of a Welfare State
. However, it was divided about the way forward for political institutions and the constitution for the Fourth Republic
. For De Gaulle, the "regime of the parties" that had characterized the Third Republic
was a cause of the 1940 military disaster
. He advocated a strong executive power, governing in the national interest, led by a man who was an incarnation of national unity. Indeed, in his mind, France is strong when it is united and the parties, represented in Parliament, serve particular interests and thus express national divisions.
In November 1945, a large majority of the French voters accepted
the elaboration of a new Constitution. At the same time, they elected
a new National Assembly
. The French Communist Party
, the Socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and the Christian democratic MRP were the largest forces represented in this Assembly. It re-elected de Gaulle as president of the provisional government but, disagreeing with restoration of the "regime of the parties", de Gaulle resigned in January 1946.
In May 1946, a first constitutional law was rejected by referendum
. One month later, a new Assembly was elected
in order to write a new constitutional text. In his Bayeux Manifesto, De Gaulle outlined his institutional ideas but he was accused of wanting re-establish a Bonapartist
government. Furthermore, without the support of a political force, he could not influence the constitutional law being prepared. René Capitant
founded a Gaullist Union for the Fourth Republic but it could not prevent the approval of the text prepared by the elected Assembly, which restored the parliamentary system.
In 1947, he gathered the anti-Communist opposition in the Rally of the French People (Rassemblement du peuple français or RPF). He accused the Fourth Republic
of being dominated by the "parliamentary fiddles" and to organize the state helplessness. In keeping with its strongly nationalist stance, it accused the French Communist Party
of being a vassal of the Soviet Union
. Furthemore, it denounced what it called the "abandonment" of colonies by the Third Force
cabinets, and it viewed French participation in the European Economic Community
to be a threat to the nation. In addition, the Gaullists recommended an association between capital and labour in order to end the "struggle of classes", which hampered national unity.
Six months after its founding, membership of the RPF reached one million. It took control of the executive of many cities, including Paris
, Marseille
and Bordeaux
. After the 1951 legislative election
and in despite of the change of the ballot system, the RPF formed the largest parliamentary group of the Assembly. But it made a systematic opposition.
In 1952, some RPF deputies voted in favour of Antoine Pinay
's cabinet then joined the majority, against the instructions of De Gaulle. They left the RPF parliamentary group. More and more divided, the RPF suffered an important decrease in the 1953 local elections. In 6 May 1953, De Gaulle asked to the Gaullist deputies to abandon the name "RPF". One month later, 5 Gaullist deputies joined Joseph Laniel
's government. Indeed, they participated to right-wing majorities then, a part of the Gaullists as Jacques Chaban-Delmas
joined the center-left Republican Front
under the label National Center of Social Republicans (Centre national des républicains sociaux or CNRS).
At the end of the 1950s, the Fourth Republic floundered in Algerian War. The May 13, 1958 riots in Algeria caused a political crisis. A threat of military coup was brandished. Emissaries sent by de Gaulle participated to this bustle (Jacques Soustelle
). The National Assembly accepted to call back De Gaulle to lead the cabinet. On September 28, a new constitution was approved by referendum. The Fifth Republic
was born. The parliamentary system was not questioned, but the presidential function was enhanced.
In order that he should not be faced with an hostile Assembly, dominated by the parties (as was the case in 1945-1946), De Gaulle let his followers organize a political party, the Union for the New Republic (Union pour la nouvelle république or UNR). After the November 1958 legislative election
, it became the largest force in the political system. It was allied with center-left and center-right parties to support De Gaulle, who was elected President of France by a congress of local and national elects in December 1958. Michel Debré
was nominated as Prime minister.
However, the change of Algerian policy divided the party. The chairman of the National Assembly Jacques Chaban-Delmas
considered Algeria was a part of the presidential "reserved domain", as well as foreign and military affairs. Soustelle, leader of the pro-French Algeria
faction in the party, left the cabinet in 1960, then was ejected from the UNR. He joined Georges Bidault
at the head of the Organisation armée secrète
which perpetrated terrorist attacks. After this crisis, the UNR appeared as the party of de Gaulle's unconditional supporters, hence its reputation of "boot party". Debré theorized its function of strap of the government. With De Gaulle refusing to be a party leader, Debré covertly took this position.
Meanwhile, the center-left parties returned to the opposition in 1959, followed in 1962 by the center-right parties, who criticized the eurosceptic declarations of De Gaulle and the "presidentialisation". Indeed, De Gaulle instituted presidential election by universal suffrage, defying all the political forces (except UNR). The French voters approved this by referendum. De Gaulle had intended to replace Debré with Georges Pompidou
as Prime minister but this was denied by a vote of no-confidence. De Gaulle dissolved the National Assembly. Associated with the left-wing Gaullists of the Democratic Union of Labour (Union démocratique du travail or UDT), and allied with Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
's Independent Republicans
, the UNR won the 1962 legislative election
and Pompidou was confirmed to lead the cabinet.
Naturally, the UNR/UDT supported De Gaulle's candidature at the 1965 presidential election
. But he won only after a second ballot, which he considered as a disavowal. Relations became more difficult with the only allied party in the presidential majority, the Independent Republicans, while the opposition was reconstructed.
While the Democratic Center
intensified its criticism, some Christian-Democrats, such Maurice Schumann
, joined the Gaullist Party, re-named Union of Democrats for the Fifth Republic (Union des démocrates pour la Cinquième République or UD-Ve). Prime Minister Pompidou led the party during the 1967 legislative campaign
. He encouraged the emergence of a new generation of Gaullist politicians who were loyal to him. The incumbent parliamentary majority only just won.
One year later, Gaullist power was confronted with the social and student May 1968 crisis. Although the newly-renamed Union for the Defense of the Republic (Union pour la défense de la République or UDR) triumphed at the June 1968 legislative election
, disagreements had appeared between De Gaulle and Pompidou. Pompidou reproached De Gaulle for leaving the country without informing him, during the crisis. For De Gaulle, his project of association between capital and labour could prevent this sort of social crisis, but Pompidou wished scrap it. Indeed, for De Gaulle's circle, Pompidou was more a classical conservative than a real Gaullist.
Pompidou left the leadership of the cabinet in order to prepare his future presidential campaign. In this, he declared his candidacy if De Gaulle were to resign. That was the case in 1969, after the failure of the referendum about Senate and regional reform, and he won the 1969 presidential election
despite the reluctance of some of the "barons of Gaullism".
His Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas announced a reform programme for a "New Society". It raised sceptical reactions from the conservative wing of the UDR, then from Pompidou himself. They reproached him for giving too many concessions to the left-wing opposition. In President Pompidou's circle, he was accused of wanting to weaken the presidential functions in favour of himself. The party became the Union of Democrats for the Republic (Union des démocrates pour la République) while this crisis broke out. Pompidou refused Chaban-Delmas a vote of confidence in the National Assembly and, when he held it anyway, Pompidou forced him to resign and nominated Pierre Messmer
. The UDR, allied with the Independent Republicans and Centre, Democracy and Progress
, won the 1973 legislative election
and succeeded in blocking the "Union of the Left" and its Common Programme.
When Pompidou died in office, on 2 April 1974, his two former Prime Ministers, Chaban-Delmas and Messmer, claimed the UDR candidacy for the presidential election
. Finally, the latter withdrew, but some influential personalities in the party, notably in the circle of the late president, doubted of the capacity of Chaban-Delmas to defeat François Mitterrand
, the representative of the "Union of the Left". Behind the young minister Jacques Chirac
, a former adviser of Pompidou, they published the Call of the 43. They covertly supported Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Minister of Economy and the Independent Republicans's leader. Giscard eliminated Chaban-Delmas in the first round, then narrowly defeated Mitterrand in the second. He was the first non-Gaullist President of the Fifth Republic.
Chirac became Prime minister and became the leader of the UDR in December 1974, in spite of the negative opinions of many historical Gaullist personalities (Michel Debré, Jacques Chaban-Delmas, etc.). They accused him of having betrayed the party during the previous presidential campaign. Some months later, a conflict broke out between the executive leadership and Chirac left the cabinet in August 1976.
Without withdrawing from the presidential majority, the RPR criticized the executive duo of President Giscard d'Estaing and Prime minister Raymond Barre
. In December 1978, six months before the European Parliament election, the Call of Cochin denounced the appropriation of France by "the foreign party", which sacrificed the national interests and the independence of the country in order to build a federal Europe. This accusation targeted clearly Giscard d'Estaing. The RPR contrasted the social doctrine of Gaullism to the president's liberalism.
The RPR supported Chirac in the 1981 presidential election
but he was eliminated in the first round. He refused to give instructions for voting for the second round, even if he said "in a private capacity", he would vote for Giscard d'Estaing. In fact, the RPR was suspected of working for the defeat of the incumbent president.
While the Socialist Party leader François Mitterrand became President, the RPR gradually abandoned the Gaullist doctrine, adopting the European and liberal positions of the Union for French Democracy
(Union pour la démocratie française or UDF). The two parties competed for the leadership of the right-wing opposition, but they presented a common list at the 1984 European Parliament election and a platform to prepare for winning the 1986 legislative election
.
From 1986 to 1988, Chirac "cohabited
" as Prime minister with Mitterrand, but lost the 1988 presidential election
. After his defeat, his leadership was challenged by younger politicians who wished to renew the right. Furthemore, the abandonment of the Gaullist doctrine was criticized by Charles Pasqua
and Philippe Séguin
. They tried to remove him from the RPR leadership in 1990, in vain. However, the division re-appeared with the 1992 Maastricht referendum. Chirac voted "yes" whereas Séguin and Pasqua campaigned for "no".
The "Union for France", a RPR/UDF coalition, won the 1993 legislative election
. Chirac refused to re-cohabit with Mitterrand, and his confidente Edouard Balladur
became Prime minister. Balladur promised he would not be a candidate in the 1995 presidential election
. Nevertheless, polls indicated Balladur was the favorite in the presidential race and furthemore, he was supported by the majority of right-wing politicians. He decided finally to be a candidate against Chirac. However, they claimed they remained "friends for 30 years".
The Socialists being weakened after the 14 years of Mitterrand's presidency, the main contest was the competition in the right, between Balladur and Chirac, two Neo-Gaullists. Balladur proposed a neoliberal programme and took advantage of the "positive results" of his cabinet, whereas Chirac advocated Keynesianism to reduce the "social fracture" and criticized the "dominant ideas", targeting Balladur. Chirac won the 1995 presidential election
.
In November 1995, his Prime Minister Alain Juppé
, "the best among us" according to Chirac, announced a plan of Welfare-State reforms which sparked wide social conflict. President Chirac dissolved the National Assembly and lost the 1997 legislative election
. He was forced to cohabit with a left-wing cabinet led by Lionel Jospin
until 2002.
Séguin succeeded Juppé as RPR leader. But, he criticized the ascendancy of President Chirac over the party. He resigned during the 1999 European election campaign, while Pasqua presented a dissident list to advocate the Gaullist idea of a "Europe of nations". Pasqua founded the Rally for France (Rassemblement pour la France or RPF) and obtained more votes than the RPR official list led by Nicolas Sarkozy
. Michèle Alliot-Marie
was elected RPR leader, against the wishes of President Chirac who supported another candidate.
Before the 2002 presidential election
, RPR and non-RPR supporters of Chirac gathered in an association: the "Union on the move". It became the Union for the Presidential Majority (Union pour la majorité présidentielle or UMP) after the April 21 electoral shock. Chirac was re-elected and the new party won the legislative election
. It was re-named Union for a Popular Movement
a few months later, establishing the UMP as a permanent organization.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the Gaullist Party is usually used to refer to the largest party professing to be Gaullist. Gaullism claimed to transcend the left/right rift (in a similar way to populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
parties elsewhere such as Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party , more commonly known as Fianna Fáil is a centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland, founded on 23 March 1926. Fianna Fáil's name is traditionally translated into English as Soldiers of Destiny, although a more accurate rendition would be Warriors of Fál...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
). The current Gaullist party is the Union for a Popular Movement
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...
.
Some personalities and voters defined themselves as "left-wing Gaullists" - a view often ascribed to leading Gaullist André Malraux
André Malraux
André Malraux DSO was a French adventurer, award-winning author, and statesman. Having traveled extensively in Indochina and China, Malraux was noted especially for his novel entitled La Condition Humaine , which won the Prix Goncourt...
. However, most of Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
's followers were conservative, and after his death, traditional left-wing voters ceased voting Gaullist and figures identified with the Gaullist left such as Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Jacques Chaban-Delmas was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. In addition, for almost half a century, he was Mayor of Bordeaux and a deputy for the Gironde département....
were gradually marginalised. Under its various names and acronyms, the Gaullist Party has been the dominant organization of the French right since the beginning of the Fifth Republic
French Fifth Republic
The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system...
(1958).
De Gaulle vs the parties (1944-1947)
Author of the L'Appel of 18 June 1940, and founder and leader of the Free French ForcesFree French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
, General Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
is the symbol of the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
to the Nazi occupation and the Vichy government. Yet, based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, then in Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
, he was forced to compromise with the domestic Resistance
French Forces of the Interior
The French Forces of the Interior refers to French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation of these groups to FFI occurred as France's status changed from that of an occupied nation...
movements dominated by various political forces (such as the Communists). In 1944, while France was liberated, De Gaulle presided over the provisional government
Provisional Government of the French Republic
The Provisional Government of the French Republic was an interim government which governed France from 1944 to 1946, following the fall of Vichy France and prior to the Fourth French Republic....
composed of Communists, Socialists, and Christian Democrats
Three-parties
The Three-Parties Alliance was a coalition which governed in France from 1944 to 1947, and was composed of the French Communist Party , the French Section of the Workers' International and the Christian Democrat Popular Republican Movement , which to begin with contained the regrouped Gaullists...
. Because De Gaulle refused to create a great political party unifying the non-Communist Resistance, a lot of parties re-emerged. The Christian democratic Popular Republican Movement
Popular Republican Movement
The Popular Republican Movement was a French Christian democratic party of the Fourth Republic...
(MRP) seemed to be the closest to De Gaulle.
The provisional government implemented policies inspired by the programme of the National Council of Resistance: nationalization of banks and some industrial companies (for example Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
), and the development of a Welfare State
Welfare State
The Welfare State is a commitment to health, education, employment and social security in the United Kingdom.-Background:The United Kingdom, as a welfare state, was prefigured in the William Beveridge Report in 1942, which identified five "Giant Evils" in society: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness...
. However, it was divided about the way forward for political institutions and the constitution for the Fourth Republic
French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
. For De Gaulle, the "regime of the parties" that had characterized the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
was a cause of the 1940 military disaster
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
. He advocated a strong executive power, governing in the national interest, led by a man who was an incarnation of national unity. Indeed, in his mind, France is strong when it is united and the parties, represented in Parliament, serve particular interests and thus express national divisions.
In November 1945, a large majority of the French voters accepted
French constitutional referendum, 1945
A constitutional referendum was held in France on 21 October 1945. Voters were asked whether they approved of the Assembly elected on the same day serving as a Constituent Assembly, and whether until a new constitution was approved, the country would be governed according to a proposed set of laws...
the elaboration of a new Constitution. At the same time, they elected
French legislative election, 1945
A legislative election was held in France on 21 October 1945 to elect a constituent assembly to draft a constitution for a Fourth French Republic. 79.83% of voters participated. Women and soldiers were allowed to vote...
a new National Assembly
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
. The French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
, the Socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and the Christian democratic MRP were the largest forces represented in this Assembly. It re-elected de Gaulle as president of the provisional government but, disagreeing with restoration of the "regime of the parties", de Gaulle resigned in January 1946.
In May 1946, a first constitutional law was rejected by referendum
French constitutional referendum, May 1946
A constitutional referendum was held in France on 5 May 1946. Voters were asked whether they approved of a new constitution proposed by the National Assembly elected in 1945. Moderates, Radicals, and the Popular Republican Movement campaigned against the referendum. It was rejected by 52.8% of...
. One month later, a new Assembly was elected
French legislative election, June 1946
Legislative elections were held in France on 2 June 1946 to elect the second post-war National Assembly designated to prepare a new Constitution...
in order to write a new constitutional text. In his Bayeux Manifesto, De Gaulle outlined his institutional ideas but he was accused of wanting re-establish a Bonapartist
Bonapartist
In French political history, Bonapartism has two meanings. In a strict sense, this term refers to people who aimed to restore the French Empire under the House of Bonaparte, the Corsican family of Napoleon Bonaparte and his nephew Louis...
government. Furthermore, without the support of a political force, he could not influence the constitutional law being prepared. René Capitant
René Capitant
René Marie Alphonse Charles Capitant was a French lawyer and politician.He was the son of a lawyer, Henri Capitant, and attended the Lycée Henri-IV in Paris...
founded a Gaullist Union for the Fourth Republic but it could not prevent the approval of the text prepared by the elected Assembly, which restored the parliamentary system.
Gaullist Party and Fourth Republic: opposition and desert crossing (1947-1958)
Further information: Rally of the French PeopleRally of the French People
The Rally of the French People was a French political party, led by Charles de Gaulle.-Foundation:...
In 1947, he gathered the anti-Communist opposition in the Rally of the French People (Rassemblement du peuple français or RPF). He accused the Fourth Republic
French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
of being dominated by the "parliamentary fiddles" and to organize the state helplessness. In keeping with its strongly nationalist stance, it accused the French Communist Party
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
of being a vassal of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Furthemore, it denounced what it called the "abandonment" of colonies by the Third Force
Third Force (France)
The Third Force was a French coalition during the Fourth Republic which gathered the French Section of the Workers' International party, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance centre-right party, the Radicals, the Christian democrat Popular Republican Movement and other centrist...
cabinets, and it viewed French participation in the European Economic Community
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
to be a threat to the nation. In addition, the Gaullists recommended an association between capital and labour in order to end the "struggle of classes", which hampered national unity.
Six months after its founding, membership of the RPF reached one million. It took control of the executive of many cities, including Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
and Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
. After the 1951 legislative election
French legislative election, 1951
Legislative elections were held in France on 17 June 1951 to elect the second National Assembly of the Fourth Republic.After the Second World War, the three parties which took a major part in the French Resistance to the German occupation dominated the political scene and government: the French...
and in despite of the change of the ballot system, the RPF formed the largest parliamentary group of the Assembly. But it made a systematic opposition.
In 1952, some RPF deputies voted in favour of Antoine Pinay
Antoine Pinay
Antoine Pinay |Rhône]], France – 13 December 1994) was a French conservative politician. He served as Prime Minister of France in 1952.-Life:As a young man, Pinay fought in World War I and injured his arm so that it was paralyzed for the rest of his life....
's cabinet then joined the majority, against the instructions of De Gaulle. They left the RPF parliamentary group. More and more divided, the RPF suffered an important decrease in the 1953 local elections. In 6 May 1953, De Gaulle asked to the Gaullist deputies to abandon the name "RPF". One month later, 5 Gaullist deputies joined Joseph Laniel
Joseph Laniel
Joseph Laniel was a French conservative politician of the Fourth Republic, who served as Prime Minister for a year from 1953 to 1954. During the middle of his tenure as Prime Minister Laniel was an unsuccessful candidate for the French Presidency, a post won by René Coty...
's government. Indeed, they participated to right-wing majorities then, a part of the Gaullists as Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Jacques Chaban-Delmas was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. In addition, for almost half a century, he was Mayor of Bordeaux and a deputy for the Gironde département....
joined the center-left Republican Front
Republican Front (France)
The Republican Front was a French center-left coalition which won the 1956 legislative election. In the context of the Algerian War, behind Pierre Mendès-France, it gathered the French Section of the Workers' International , the Radical Party, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance...
under the label National Center of Social Republicans (Centre national des républicains sociaux or CNRS).
At the end of the 1950s, the Fourth Republic floundered in Algerian War. The May 13, 1958 riots in Algeria caused a political crisis. A threat of military coup was brandished. Emissaries sent by de Gaulle participated to this bustle (Jacques Soustelle
Jacques Soustelle
Jacques Soustelle was an important and early figure of the Free French Forces and an anthropologist specializing in pre-Columbian civilizations. He became vice-director of the Musée de l'Homme in Paris in 1938. He was elected to the Académie française in 1983.- Biography :Jacques Soustelle was...
). The National Assembly accepted to call back De Gaulle to lead the cabinet. On September 28, a new constitution was approved by referendum. The Fifth Republic
French Fifth Republic
The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system...
was born. The parliamentary system was not questioned, but the presidential function was enhanced.
Gaullist Party's height (1958-1976)
Further information: Union of Democrats for the RepublicIn order that he should not be faced with an hostile Assembly, dominated by the parties (as was the case in 1945-1946), De Gaulle let his followers organize a political party, the Union for the New Republic (Union pour la nouvelle république or UNR). After the November 1958 legislative election
French legislative election, 1958
- National Assembly by Parliamentary Group:...
, it became the largest force in the political system. It was allied with center-left and center-right parties to support De Gaulle, who was elected President of France by a congress of local and national elects in December 1958. Michel Debré
Michel Debré
Michel Jean-Pierre Debré was a French Gaullist politician. He is considered the "father" of the current Constitution of France, and was the first Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic...
was nominated as Prime minister.
However, the change of Algerian policy divided the party. The chairman of the National Assembly Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Jacques Chaban-Delmas was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. In addition, for almost half a century, he was Mayor of Bordeaux and a deputy for the Gironde département....
considered Algeria was a part of the presidential "reserved domain", as well as foreign and military affairs. Soustelle, leader of the pro-French Algeria
French Algeria
French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...
faction in the party, left the cabinet in 1960, then was ejected from the UNR. He joined Georges Bidault
Georges Bidault
Georges-Augustin Bidault was a French politician. During World War II, he was active in the French Resistance. After the war, he served as foreign minister and prime minister on several occasions before he joined the Organisation armée secrète.-Early life:...
at the head of the Organisation armée secrète
Organisation armée secrète
The Organisation de l'armée secrète was a short-lived, French far-right nationalist militant and underground organization during the Algerian War . The OAS used armed struggle in an attempt to prevent Algeria's independence...
which perpetrated terrorist attacks. After this crisis, the UNR appeared as the party of de Gaulle's unconditional supporters, hence its reputation of "boot party". Debré theorized its function of strap of the government. With De Gaulle refusing to be a party leader, Debré covertly took this position.
Meanwhile, the center-left parties returned to the opposition in 1959, followed in 1962 by the center-right parties, who criticized the eurosceptic declarations of De Gaulle and the "presidentialisation". Indeed, De Gaulle instituted presidential election by universal suffrage, defying all the political forces (except UNR). The French voters approved this by referendum. De Gaulle had intended to replace Debré with Georges Pompidou
Georges Pompidou
Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou was a French politician. He was Prime Minister of France from 1962 to 1968, holding the longest tenure in this position, and later President of the French Republic from 1969 until his death in 1974.-Biography:...
as Prime minister but this was denied by a vote of no-confidence. De Gaulle dissolved the National Assembly. Associated with the left-wing Gaullists of the Democratic Union of Labour (Union démocratique du travail or UDT), and allied with Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing is a French centre-right politician who was President of the French Republic from 1974 until 1981...
's Independent Republicans
Independent Republicans
The Independent Republicans were a French liberal-conservative political group founded in 1962, which became a political party in 1966 . The leader was Valéry Giscard d'Estaing....
, the UNR won the 1962 legislative election
French legislative election, 1962
- National Assembly by Parliamentary Group:...
and Pompidou was confirmed to lead the cabinet.
Naturally, the UNR/UDT supported De Gaulle's candidature at the 1965 presidential election
French presidential election, 1965
The 1965 French presidential election was the first presidential election by direct universal suffrage of the Fifth Republic. It was also the first presidential election by direct universal suffrage since the Second Republic in 1848. It was won by incumbent president Charles de Gaulle who resigned...
. But he won only after a second ballot, which he considered as a disavowal. Relations became more difficult with the only allied party in the presidential majority, the Independent Republicans, while the opposition was reconstructed.
While the Democratic Center
Popular Republican Movement
The Popular Republican Movement was a French Christian democratic party of the Fourth Republic...
intensified its criticism, some Christian-Democrats, such Maurice Schumann
Maurice Schumann
Maurice Schumann was a French politician, journalist, writer, and hero of the Second World War who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Georges Pompidou in the 1960s and 1970s...
, joined the Gaullist Party, re-named Union of Democrats for the Fifth Republic (Union des démocrates pour la Cinquième République or UD-Ve). Prime Minister Pompidou led the party during the 1967 legislative campaign
French legislative election, 1967
French legislative elections took place on 5 and 12 March 1967 to elect the 3rd National Assembly of the Fifth Republic.In December 1965, Charles de Gaulle was re-elected President of France in the first Presidential election by universal suffrage. However, contrary to predictions, there had been a...
. He encouraged the emergence of a new generation of Gaullist politicians who were loyal to him. The incumbent parliamentary majority only just won.
One year later, Gaullist power was confronted with the social and student May 1968 crisis. Although the newly-renamed Union for the Defense of the Republic (Union pour la défense de la République or UDR) triumphed at the June 1968 legislative election
French legislative election, 1968
- National Assembly by Parliamentary Group:...
, disagreements had appeared between De Gaulle and Pompidou. Pompidou reproached De Gaulle for leaving the country without informing him, during the crisis. For De Gaulle, his project of association between capital and labour could prevent this sort of social crisis, but Pompidou wished scrap it. Indeed, for De Gaulle's circle, Pompidou was more a classical conservative than a real Gaullist.
Pompidou left the leadership of the cabinet in order to prepare his future presidential campaign. In this, he declared his candidacy if De Gaulle were to resign. That was the case in 1969, after the failure of the referendum about Senate and regional reform, and he won the 1969 presidential election
French presidential election, 1969
The 1969 French presidential election took place on 1 June and 15 June 1969. It occurred due to the resignation of President Charles de Gaulle on 28 April 1969. Indeed, De Gaulle had decided to consult the voters by referendum about regionalisation and the reform of the Senate, and he had announced...
despite the reluctance of some of the "barons of Gaullism".
His Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas announced a reform programme for a "New Society". It raised sceptical reactions from the conservative wing of the UDR, then from Pompidou himself. They reproached him for giving too many concessions to the left-wing opposition. In President Pompidou's circle, he was accused of wanting to weaken the presidential functions in favour of himself. The party became the Union of Democrats for the Republic (Union des démocrates pour la République) while this crisis broke out. Pompidou refused Chaban-Delmas a vote of confidence in the National Assembly and, when he held it anyway, Pompidou forced him to resign and nominated Pierre Messmer
Pierre Messmer
Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Minister of Armies under Charles de Gaulle from 1960 to 1969 – the longest serving since Étienne François, duc de Choiseul under Louis XV – and then as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1972 to 1974...
. The UDR, allied with the Independent Republicans and Centre, Democracy and Progress
Centre, Democracy and Progress
Centre, Democracy and Progress was a French centrist political party founded in 1969. It was founded after the 1969 presidential election by centrists from the Democratic Centre who supported Georges Pompidou in the 1969 election and joined the coalition of the cabinet of Prime Minister Jacques...
, won the 1973 legislative election
French legislative election, 1973
French legislative elections took place on 4 and 11 March 1973 to elect the 5th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic.In order to end the May 1968 crisis, President Charles de Gaulle dissolved the National Assembly and his party, the Gaullist Party Union of Democrats for the Republic , obtained...
and succeeded in blocking the "Union of the Left" and its Common Programme.
When Pompidou died in office, on 2 April 1974, his two former Prime Ministers, Chaban-Delmas and Messmer, claimed the UDR candidacy for the presidential election
French presidential election, 1974
Presidential elections were held in :France in 1974, following the death of President Georges Pompidou. They went to a second round, and were won by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing by a margin of 1.6%...
. Finally, the latter withdrew, but some influential personalities in the party, notably in the circle of the late president, doubted of the capacity of Chaban-Delmas to defeat François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
, the representative of the "Union of the Left". Behind the young minister Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
, a former adviser of Pompidou, they published the Call of the 43. They covertly supported Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Minister of Economy and the Independent Republicans's leader. Giscard eliminated Chaban-Delmas in the first round, then narrowly defeated Mitterrand in the second. He was the first non-Gaullist President of the Fifth Republic.
Chirac became Prime minister and became the leader of the UDR in December 1974, in spite of the negative opinions of many historical Gaullist personalities (Michel Debré, Jacques Chaban-Delmas, etc.). They accused him of having betrayed the party during the previous presidential campaign. Some months later, a conflict broke out between the executive leadership and Chirac left the cabinet in August 1976.
A neo-Gaullist party: the RPR (1976-2002)
In December 1976, the UDR was replaced by the Rally for the Republic (Rassemblement pour la République or RPR). This name was chosen due to its similarity with the RPF. Indeed, the New Gaullist Party was devised as a machine of reconquest behind one man, Jacques Chirac.Without withdrawing from the presidential majority, the RPR criticized the executive duo of President Giscard d'Estaing and Prime minister Raymond Barre
Raymond Barre
Raymond Octave Joseph Barre was a French centre-right politician and economist. He was a Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs under three Presidents and later served as Prime Minister under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing from 1976 until 1981...
. In December 1978, six months before the European Parliament election, the Call of Cochin denounced the appropriation of France by "the foreign party", which sacrificed the national interests and the independence of the country in order to build a federal Europe. This accusation targeted clearly Giscard d'Estaing. The RPR contrasted the social doctrine of Gaullism to the president's liberalism.
The RPR supported Chirac in the 1981 presidential election
French presidential election, 1981
The French presidential election of 1981 took place on 10 May 1981, giving the presidency of France to François Mitterrand, the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic....
but he was eliminated in the first round. He refused to give instructions for voting for the second round, even if he said "in a private capacity", he would vote for Giscard d'Estaing. In fact, the RPR was suspected of working for the defeat of the incumbent president.
While the Socialist Party leader François Mitterrand became President, the RPR gradually abandoned the Gaullist doctrine, adopting the European and liberal positions of the Union for French Democracy
Union for French Democracy
The Union for French Democracy was a French centrist political party. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over the right. This name was chosen due to the title of Giscard d'Estaing's...
(Union pour la démocratie française or UDF). The two parties competed for the leadership of the right-wing opposition, but they presented a common list at the 1984 European Parliament election and a platform to prepare for winning the 1986 legislative election
French legislative election, 1986
The French legislative elections took place on 16 March 1986 to elect the 8th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. Contrary to other legislative elections of the Fifth Republic, the electoral system used was that of Party-list proportional representation.Since the 1981 election of François...
.
From 1986 to 1988, Chirac "cohabited
Cohabitation (government)
Cohabitation in government occurs in semi-presidential systems, such as France's system, when the President is from a different political party than the majority of the members of parliament. It occurs because such a system forces the president to name a premier that will be acceptable to the...
" as Prime minister with Mitterrand, but lost the 1988 presidential election
French presidential election, 1988
Presidential elections were held in France on 24 April and 8 May 1988.In 1981, the Socialist Party leader, François Mitterrand, was elected President of France and the Left won the legislative election. However, in 1986, the Right regained a parliamentary majority. President Mitterrand was forced...
. After his defeat, his leadership was challenged by younger politicians who wished to renew the right. Furthemore, the abandonment of the Gaullist doctrine was criticized by Charles Pasqua
Charles Pasqua
Charles Pasqua is a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's cohabitation government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government of Edouard Balladur...
and Philippe Séguin
Philippe Séguin
Philippe Séguin was a French political figure who was President of the National Assembly from 1993 to 1997 and President of the Cour des Comptes of France from 2004 to 2010....
. They tried to remove him from the RPR leadership in 1990, in vain. However, the division re-appeared with the 1992 Maastricht referendum. Chirac voted "yes" whereas Séguin and Pasqua campaigned for "no".
The "Union for France", a RPR/UDF coalition, won the 1993 legislative election
French legislative election, 1993
French legislative elections took place on 21 and 28 March 1993 to elect the 10th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic.Since 1988, President François Mitterrand and his Socialist cabinets had relied on a relative parliamentary majority. Without the support of the Communists, Prime minister...
. Chirac refused to re-cohabit with Mitterrand, and his confidente Edouard Balladur
Édouard Balladur
Édouard Balladur is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 29 March 1993 to 10 May 1995.-Biography:Balladur was born in İzmir, Turkey, to an Armenian Catholic family with five children and long-standing ties to France...
became Prime minister. Balladur promised he would not be a candidate in the 1995 presidential election
French presidential election, 1995
Presidential elections took place in France on 23 April and 7 May 1995, to elect the fifth president of the Fifth Republic.The incumbent Socialist president, François Mitterrand, did not stand for a third term. He was 78, had cancer, and his party had lost the previous legislative election in a...
. Nevertheless, polls indicated Balladur was the favorite in the presidential race and furthemore, he was supported by the majority of right-wing politicians. He decided finally to be a candidate against Chirac. However, they claimed they remained "friends for 30 years".
The Socialists being weakened after the 14 years of Mitterrand's presidency, the main contest was the competition in the right, between Balladur and Chirac, two Neo-Gaullists. Balladur proposed a neoliberal programme and took advantage of the "positive results" of his cabinet, whereas Chirac advocated Keynesianism to reduce the "social fracture" and criticized the "dominant ideas", targeting Balladur. Chirac won the 1995 presidential election
French presidential election, 1995
Presidential elections took place in France on 23 April and 7 May 1995, to elect the fifth president of the Fifth Republic.The incumbent Socialist president, François Mitterrand, did not stand for a third term. He was 78, had cancer, and his party had lost the previous legislative election in a...
.
In November 1995, his Prime Minister Alain Juppé
Alain Juppé
Alain Marie Juppé is a French politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also served as Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac and the Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs from 2010 to 2011...
, "the best among us" according to Chirac, announced a plan of Welfare-State reforms which sparked wide social conflict. President Chirac dissolved the National Assembly and lost the 1997 legislative election
French legislative election, 1997
French legislative election took place on 25 May and 1 June 1997 to elect the 11th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. It was the consequence of President Jacques Chirac's decision to call the legislative election one year before the deadline....
. He was forced to cohabit with a left-wing cabinet led by Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin
Lionel Jospin is a French politician, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002.Jospin was the Socialist Party candidate for President of France in the elections of 1995 and 2002. He was narrowly defeated in the final runoff election by Jacques Chirac in 1995...
until 2002.
Séguin succeeded Juppé as RPR leader. But, he criticized the ascendancy of President Chirac over the party. He resigned during the 1999 European election campaign, while Pasqua presented a dissident list to advocate the Gaullist idea of a "Europe of nations". Pasqua founded the Rally for France (Rassemblement pour la France or RPF) and obtained more votes than the RPR official list led by Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
. Michèle Alliot-Marie
Michèle Alliot-Marie
Michèle Jeanne Honorine Alliot-Marie, born 10 September 1946 and nicknamed MAM, is a French politician of the Union for a Popular Movement . A member of all but one right-wing governments of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, she was the first woman in France to hold the portfolios of Defense , the...
was elected RPR leader, against the wishes of President Chirac who supported another candidate.
Before the 2002 presidential election
French presidential election, 2002
The 2002 French presidential election consisted of a first round election on 21 April 2002, and a runoff election between the top two candidates on 5 May 2002. This presidential contest attracted a greater than usual amount of international attention because of Le Pen's unexpected appearance in...
, RPR and non-RPR supporters of Chirac gathered in an association: the "Union on the move". It became the Union for the Presidential Majority (Union pour la majorité présidentielle or UMP) after the April 21 electoral shock. Chirac was re-elected and the new party won the legislative election
French legislative election, 2002
-12th Assembly by Parliamentary Group:...
. It was re-named Union for a Popular Movement
Union for a Popular Movement
The Union for a Popular Movement is a centre-right political party in France, and one of the two major contemporary political parties in the country along with the center-left Socialist Party...
a few months later, establishing the UMP as a permanent organization.
Secretaries General
- 1947-1951: Jacques SoustelleJacques SoustelleJacques Soustelle was an important and early figure of the Free French Forces and an anthropologist specializing in pre-Columbian civilizations. He became vice-director of the Musée de l'Homme in Paris in 1938. He was elected to the Académie française in 1983.- Biography :Jacques Soustelle was...
- 1951-1954: Louis Terrenoire
- 1958-1959: Roger FreyRoger FreyRoger Frey was a French politician. He was Minister of the Interior and president of the Constitutional Council of France.-Monokini prosecution:...
- 1959: Albin ChalandonAlbin ChalandonAlbin Chalandon is a French politician and a former minister.Between 1968 and 1972, he was Minister of Public Works...
- 1959-1961: Jacques RichardJacques RichardJacques A. G. Richard was a professional ice hockey centre who played in the National Hockey League for the Atlanta Flames, Buffalo Sabres, and Quebec Nordiques. After an impressive junior career, Richard was considered a potential NHL superstar, but failed to live up to the promise. Trouble...
- 1961-1962: Roger Dusseaulx
- 1962: Louis Terrenoire
- 1962-1968: Jacques Baumel
- 1968-1971: Robert PoujadeRobert PoujadeRobert Poujade is a former French politician. He was mayor of Dijon from 1971 to 2001.-References:...
- 1971-1972: René Tomasi
- 1972-1973: Alain PeyrefitteAlain PeyrefitteAlain Peyrefitte was a French scholar and politician.He was a confidant of Charles De Gaulle and had a long career in public service, serving as a diplomat in Germany and Poland....
- 1973-1974: Alexandre Sanguinetti
- 1974-1975: Jacques ChiracJacques ChiracJacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
- 1975: André Bord
- 1975-1976: Yves GuénaYves GuénaYves Guéna is a French politician. In 1940, he joined the Free French Forces in the United Kingdom. He received several decorations for his courage....
Presidents of the RPR
- 1976-1994: Jacques ChiracJacques ChiracJacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
- 1994-1997: Alain JuppéAlain JuppéAlain Marie Juppé is a French politician currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also served as Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac and the Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs from 2010 to 2011...
- 1997-1999: Philippe SéguinPhilippe SéguinPhilippe Séguin was a French political figure who was President of the National Assembly from 1993 to 1997 and President of the Cour des Comptes of France from 2004 to 2010....
- 1999: Nicolas SarkozyNicolas SarkozyNicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
- 1999-2002: Michèle Alliot-MarieMichèle Alliot-MarieMichèle Jeanne Honorine Alliot-Marie, born 10 September 1946 and nicknamed MAM, is a French politician of the Union for a Popular Movement . A member of all but one right-wing governments of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, she was the first woman in France to hold the portfolios of Defense , the...