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François Mitterrand (1916-96)French president. Born on 26 October 1916, the son of a stationmaster in Jarnac in the Cognac region of south-west France, he was raised by devout Roman Catholic parents, and studied law at Paris University. When World War II broke out, he joined the army but was wounded and captured by the Germans in 1940. After two failed attempts, he finally escaped from prison camp and joined the Resistance movement as an organiser of former prisoners-of-war. As a cover, he worked for the Vichy puppet government that ruled southern France. He was decorated with the Croix de Guerre for bravery in 1946. After the war, he emerged as a leading socialist spokesman and served in 11 governments during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1971, Mitterrand became the undisputed leader of the left when he launched the Parti Socialist (Socialist Party) and, the following year, created the Union de la Gauche (Union of the Left). However, during those years he also became known as a political chameleon, a man who fitted his ideology to the moment's political needs. Although he lost two presidential elections, he managed to overcome his reputation as an 'eternal loser' when he won the presidency in 1981. The socialist policies of his governments in the early 1980s were not as successful as the more neo-liberal ones of the late 1980s. However, Mitterrand did preside over an era in which France reasserted her self-confidence, expressed through the arts and architecture, and took a lead in European politics. The unprecedented longevity of his presidency, which lasted until 1995, meant that Mitterrand became the central figure in the drive to further economic and political integration in the European Union in the 1980s. He died of cancer on 8 January 1996. |
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