Gaullist

But the eviction of the Gaullist Barons and of President VGE convinced Chirac to assume a strong neo-Gaullist stance.

The Frenchman first got into politics as a young Gaullist aged 15.

Chirac began his political career in the 1960s when he was appointed head of the personal staff of Gaullist prime minister Georges Pompidou.

Chirac was a somewhat right-of-center former president, prime minister, and “Gaullist” politician whose days in French politics are remembered warmly, because they were, most French would agree, better days for France.

Since 2007 this historic tendency seems to have been in conflict with an un-Gaullist Atlanticism, and even with a certain neo-conservatism imported from the United States.

Although Chirac was well-situated in de Gaulle's entourage, being related by marriage to the general's sole companion at the time of the Appeal of 18 June 1940, he was more of a "Pompidolian" than a "Gaullist".

Chirac and others published the call of the 43 in favour of Giscard d'Estaing, the leader of the non-Gaullist part of the parliamentary majority.

Due to his attacks against the economic policy of the Socialist government, he gradually aligned himself with prevailing economic liberal opinion, even though it did not correspond with Gaullist doctrine.

He afterwards enjoyed massive approval ratings, and once said that "every Frenchman is, has been or will be Gaullist".

Practicing left unity in Nièvre, he advocated the rallying of left-wing forces at the national level, including the PCF, in order to challenge Gaullist domination.

Some writers take the view that Pompidou was a more progressive and influential leader than de Gaulle because, though also a Gaullist, he was less autocratic and more interested in social reforms.

When André Masson began to talk about "la trahison des gaullistes" (the Gaullist treason), Mitterrand stood up in the audience and shouted him down, saying Masson had no right to talk on behalf of POWs and calling "la relève" a "con" (i.