Georges Pompidou

Premier (1962-1968) and president of France (1969-1974)

• Born: July 5, 1911
• Birthplace: Montboudif, France
• Died: April 2, 1974
• Place of death: Paris, France

Of the eighteen years during which Gaullism was in power in France, Pompidou was premier from 1962 to 1968 and president from 1969 to 1974. Gaullism stabilized France, renewed its pride, and restored its stature in the world.

Early Life

Born of peasant stock in the small village of Montboudif, Georges Pompidou (pahm-pee-dew) spent much of his early life in nearby Albi, where his mother’s family were linen cloth merchants. His father, Léon, and his mother, née Marie-Louise Chavagnac, were both schoolteachers. Molded by the parish church, the communal school, and his parents’ wish that he succeed as an educator, Pompidou studied at Lycée d’Albi, Lycée de Toulouse, and Lycée Louis-le-Grand at Paris, emphasizing French literature, Greek, Latin, and history. Having performed brilliantly, he then went to the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He received his agrégé des lettres in 1934, the diplôme of the Institute of Political Studies in 1934, and the breveté of the Centre des Hautes Études Administratives in 1947.

After obligatory military service, Pompidou was named professor of French, Latin, and Greek at Lycée Saint-Charles in Marseilles in 1935 and then married Claude Cahour, the daughter of a physician. In 1938, he was invited to teach at Lycée Henry IV in Paris. The Pompidous began a social pattern that continued when he was a banker. They frequented art galleries, bookstores, bistros, films, concerts, and the theater and played tennis, skied, and vacationed in Saint-Tropez. Pompidou had a reputation for indolence, but he had leisure time because he did his work quickly, effortlessly, and yet effectively.

In August, 1939, Pompidou was a second lieutenant with the 141st Infantry regiment from Marseilles, assigned first to the Italian frontier, then Alsace-Lorraine, and the Somme. Pompidou heard and was deeply moved by Charles de Gaulle’s radio appeal from London urging that French nationals outside France continue the war against the Germans, but he went back to Paris to the lycée to teach a class preparing students for colonial service. His son, Alain, was born in 1942.

Life’s Work

Pompidou was present at de Gaulle’s liberation march down the Champs Élysées in 1944, and with the help of a friend was put in charge of school and university problems in de Gaulle’s provisional government. From February, 1946, to 1949 he was assistant to the director of the Commission of Tourism for the national government. Although he had not studied law, from September, 1949, to 1954 he was one of a number of maîtres des requětes preparing reports for the Conseil d’état, an administrative court. He became secretary-general in 1951 of his colleagues’ association.

In January, 1946, the de Gaulle family put him in charge of their charitable foundation. After de Gaulle organized the Rassemblement du Peuple Français, Pompidou began assisting de Gaulle in various other ways. In 1953 Pompidou handled the negotiations for publication of the first volume of de Gaulle’s war memoirs. Working on de Gaulle’s finances in 1951, Pompidou met Guy de Rothschild, the director-general of the French arm of the Rothschild Bank. Leaving the Conseil d’état, in February, 1954, Pompidou became director of a railroad company and, in July, of an import-export company both affiliates of the bank. In 1956, he became director-general of the bank, and, until 1962, he also administered several of the bank’s affiliated companies. Rothschild was especially interested in mining ventures in Africa. While still at the bank, Pompidou resumed giving lectures at the Institute des Sciences Politiques and helped de Gaulle put together his new government in May, 1958.

On leave from the bank, he served from June 1, 1958, to January 8, 1959, as de Gaulle’s principal private secretary. While back again at the bank, he was appointed as a member of the Conseil Constitutional. He also continued his writing. He was not a creator of literature, but he was an appreciator. Having specialized in Jean Racine’s tragedies, he published “Britannicus” de Jean Racine (1944) and edited two books for use in secondary school instruction. While at the bank he edited Anthologie de la poésie française (1961), giving much space to Charles Baudelaire. His last book was Le Nœud gordien (1974), discussing values and events, with references, among others, to Niccolò Machiavelli, Blaise Pascal, and Paul Valéry. Some effort was made after his death to compile a record of political thought, though he was not prone to original thinking, nor was he given to theorizing. These included a two-volume compilation of his speeches, Entretiens et discours, 1968-1974 (1975) and Pour rétablir une vérité (1982).

De Gaulle had chosen Pompidou as his confidential agent because he made quick decisions; was a good judge of character; was loyal, discreet, and diplomatic; and made himself indispensable by efficiently taking care of numerous details. In 1961, de Gaulle sent him to negotiate in Switzerland with the chiefs of the Algerian rebels. De Gaulle began using Pompidou as de facto premier in March, 1962, and formally made him premier on April 16, 1962. The new premier was assigned jurisdiction over financial and domestic policies and politics while de Gaulle personally directed the army, the department of justice, and colonial and foreign affairs.

Pompidou had not come up through the ranks of politics, but he proved to be skillful at directing election campaigns. He had not had experience in front of television cameras, but he became effective at using that medium. When he began to think of himself as successor to President de Gaulle, this did not please the president, who had valued him for his self-effacing services. By 1966, de Gaulle began to think of replacing Pompidou, especially as Pompidou’s public popularity grew. The turbulence of student rebellions and a general strike in May, 1968, gave de Gaulle the occasion he needed. When Pompidou left the government on July 10, 1968, he had been premier longer than any Frenchman except François Guizot.

Pompidou remained on the municipal council at Carjac (Lot), to which he had been elected in March, 1965, and remained a deputy to the National Assembly from Cantal. The other Gaullist deputies made him their honorary president. While Couve de Murville was premier, the Gaullist party organization and parliamentary group were dominated by Pompidou’s men.

De Gaulle left office on April 28, 1969. Pompidou was elected president of France on June 15, 1969. His first premier was Jacques Chaban-Delmas, who launched a program for a “new society.” Pompidou was more conservative than his premier and gave top priority to making French industries more internationally competitive. He wanted France to grow richer. In 1972, he replaced Chaban-Delmas with Pierre Messmer. While de Gaulle was still alive, until November 9, 1970, Pompidou could not be sure that de Gaulle would not intervene, and he had to satisfy the Gaullists who deplored any deviation from the general’s policies. Pompidou’s first cabinet was full of the barons of Gaullism. He made a point of making speeches echoing de Gaulle’s views about French nationalism and Europe as a combine of nations.

Most of the Gaullist objectives remained, but the language and methods were new. Astute, realistic, down to earth, prudent, calm, courteous, and patient, Pompidou was more pragmatic than doctrinaire. Unlike de Gaulle, he preferred to achieve cordial understandings through negotiations, and he was less likely to resort to de Gaulle’s brand of political theater. By temperament he favored stability, tranquillity, and maintenance of the social order. He valued traditions and also believed in freedom, for which he thought the state was essential as a guarantor. Humans are neither angels nor beasts, he said, but a little of both.

He negotiated with the Soviet Union’s Leonid Brezhnev, though he profoundly distrusted communism. He did not share de Gaulle’s hostility toward the Anglo-Saxons, but he believed Spain and Portugal would be useful counterweights to the north in the European Common Market. He was criticized by the French Communist Party for supporting American Vietnam policies in 1972. He took an interest in Francophone Africa and thought Israel should trade land for peace. He leaned toward economic liberalism and believed that the solution to France’s problems was economic growth, but he did not propose to denationalize state-owned industry. His government promoted new technology. His government also sought to modernize Paris, to make it a counterweight to London in the expanded Common Market. An underground shopping center was placed where Les Halles had been, new office towers rose at La Défense, and the striking Pompidou Center was built. In the middle of all the rebuilding, there was a scandal about real estate speculation. When he died on April 2, 1974, of cancer of the bone marrow, he left an unfinished term as president.

Significance

Georges Pompidou’s most notable achievement was as a sustainer of the Gaullist regime. Although he was a banker, he was not a banking technician. Although he worked in government commissions concerned with law, he was not a legal technician. Although he won elections, he was not a politician. His posts were gained through personal contacts. Although he socialized with fashionable and artistic people, he never lost the aspect of a peasant. Although his father was a socialist, Pompidou was unwilling to complete de Gaulle’s plan for greater worker participation in decision making.

Pompidou was loyal to his friends, able to assess situations quickly and accurately, and able to resolve problems quietly and effectively. These qualities induced de Gaulle to turn to him for help from 1946 onward. De Gaulle believed that his premier was practical and prudent. As president, Pompidou demonstrated that his concerns in foreign affairs were closer to those of Europe and less global than de Gaulle’s had been. He continued support for nuclear defense. One of the roles of a president is to symbolize France, and he did do that. Blessed with a keen intelligence, Pompidou loved poetry and understood people.

Bibliography

Alexandre, Philippe. The Duel: De Gaulle and Pompidou. Translated by Elaine P. Halperin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972. This is the best available account in English of the subtleties of personal relationship between the two men. It is highly readable.

Berstein, Serge, and Jean-Pierre Rioux. The Pompidou Years, 1969-1974. Translated by Christopher Woodall. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Chronicles the events of Pompidou’s presidency, in which he consolidated many of the reforms of former President Charles de Gaulle and launched a modernization program for France.

Roberts, Frank C. Obituaries from the “Times,” 1971-1975. Westport, Conn.: Meckler Books, 1978, pp. 414-418. Written from an American viewpoint, this assessment concentrates on Pompidou’s foreign policies as president of France. He improved relations between France and Great Britain, especially in terms of Great Britain’s membership in the European Economic Community. The article states that he did not like sweeping social reforms.

Roussel, Eric. Georges Pompidou. Paris: Jean-Claude Lattès, 1984. To read about the rest of Pompidou’s career, as well as the earlier stages, turn to this book. It has photographs, lists the ministers of his cabinets when he was premier and president, and contains a bibliography.

Werth, Alexander. De Gaulle. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1967. This book is about de Gaulle but contains a number of references to Pompidou, including a short biography. Mention is made that Pompidou was a socialist in his youth but became a neocapitalist that is, someone who believed that modernization of France could best be achieved through a combination of big business and state capitalism. An explanation is given of why de Gaulle picked him to be prime minister, and there is a description of the parliament’s initial dissatisfaction with the appointment.

Williams, Philip M. French Politicians and Elections, 1951-1969. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Williams describes de Gaulle’s selection of Pompidou as prime minister and Pompidou’s subsequent role in elections and in the events of May, 1968.

Williams, Philip M., and Martin Harrison. Politics and Society in de Gaulle’s Republic. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1972. This book contains numerous scattered references to Pompidou, including a description of his conciliatory gestures as prime minister.