He was one of the dominant forces in french polititics for overer six decades. Jacques chirac has died at the age of 86. He spent two terms as president of thehe republic, from 1995 unl 2007. He was released by Nicolas Sarkozy. He served twice as Prime Minister and was the mayor of paris between 1977 and 1999 almost exclusively. Day in ill health. Museum. Cy is the here is a look back. We seem to be having a technical pitch. We will try to bring that to you shortly. Mark is here with me. It is fickle to overstate just how important Jacques Chirac was. He was a giant. The career spanned over four decades. He played many roles. Minister twice. Paris for nearly two decades. It is a long time in french politics. All of the french have memories of Jacques Chirac. In recentng to age years because he has virtually disappeared. Waslast public appearance before fivive years ago. He was very ill. His family was keeping him from the public eye and the news of his death is not a surprise. Inyears old, he had a stroke 2005 while he was still in power and he has been sick for many years. E could not attend his trial that is the biggest thing. It was the first time a french president was brought to trial and he was convicted of misusing money while he was mayor of paris. Was was a moment that tarnishing him. He was very ill. The news confirmed he was ououtf sight because his health was poor. He died surrounded by family anand loved ones. S. He w was ill for a long time. The french pararliament, General Assembly is holding a moment of silence for him. Emmanuel macron will make a speech later this evening, talking about Jacques Chirac. Lets bring you that report on his life and legacy. I regret this action was undertaken without the approval of the united nations. I wish these operations to be quick. That they will not lead to humanitarian capacity. Was born inhirac 1932, but made his first steps in politics in the area of , where his family came from. Through his career, he had a special relationship with farmers, a strong support base for the centerright politician. Dont you worry. I will not to. You have an easy job. Elected member of parliament at 33, he was ambitious, and held several top government posts. Himof his mentors nicknamed the bulldozer for his efficient and aggressive style. He was twice named prime in 1986. In 1974 and for 18 years, he was mayor of paris and set his sights on the presidency in his third attempt to gain it, he was the underdog. Many b back his rival. He and his wife never forgot. Tohe gathered those faithful him since many had abandoned him. He e built ties with several world leaders. I have admired your political tenacity and i have a suggestion. In france ththey should call you le come back kid. To interactd keen with people, he could also be fiery at times, lashing out at aides and officials. What do you want . Me to go back to my plane and back to france . Ran and won the runoff with 82 . The French Republic does not compromise when the soul of the french people is in questition. I have foughght this batee through my l life. He could have achieved more during his time in power, pointing to rising unemployment, violent riots in the suburbs and french voters disappointment with the eu. After leaving office, he was tried for diverting public funds while he was mayor of paris and suspended a twoyear prison sentence. Figureined a popular until the end of his life. The french appeared fond of the man in the political spotlight for 50 years. Today at the age of 86. Philip has joined us in studio. Covered Jacques Chirac a lot over the years. I want to talk about his style and reputation. Wasas known for wet, he good at playing the media. Tell us how he will be remembered. One of my greatest memories parliament. In the hehe was someone who enjoyed the good life. Image of him to take away with you to o some tht look at thehe who are there. Be in contactto with the part of frarance that nobody talks about much. That is somethihing jacques chic was keen to be in connection with and in contact with. Electionok back to the when he first came to office, he was given no chance of winning the president ial election. It was a foregone conclusion that his rival within the same party at the time, who was prime , the leftleaning president coming to the end of his second term in office, was going to keep care of business while Jacques Chirac was running for president. Then, he decided to run for president and was put down as being the favorite to win. He was backed by Nicolas Sarkozy who succeeded Jacques Chirac. Jacques chirac stayed the course. One of the things that helped him win the election was valid asr was that he was seen being too aloof. Withould have a chat Jacques Chirac. That was a big change from the previous president s. It was definitely a change from the austere side of the french presidency. He was a more ordinary man but gave the perception he was someone you could talk to. That was an element that helped him in his political life as being, if you look at the president s in francece who are e most p popular, Jacques Chirac s the president they found the most sympathetic. To there going to go palace. Catherine nourse trent is there. Currentlearned the president will be making a speech later this evening. Macron, who was supposed to be holding a meeting in the south of france, onnching major reform retirements and pensions. He has canceled that engagement. He will be here in paris making a speech to the french nation at 8 00 p. M. , paying tribute to Jacques Chirac. In acrossare coming the political world in france. Hollande said the french people have lost a friend today. He hailed Jacques Chirac as a fighter and said he made a personal link with the people. He was very popular, although he was not at the end of his mandate as president. In later years, he became a popular figure, with many people saying they admired his humor, frankness, an image he cultivated as an affable rogue, someone prepared to break the write the rules. Marine le pen said this was a big day and that Jacques Chirac had loved france. He had staying power. Six decades he was a force in french politics. The palalace for two terms. President ial terms from seven years to five. That is one of the reforms that he passed. One thing he did enact is term of thehe french president he had term ofe career stretching from 1962 right through to a minister, Prime Minister on two separate occasions. He ran twice for the presidency. He finally got lucky, winning the presidency in 1995. Admired him. Mayor of paris and siphoned off money. He was convicted of that in later life. Prison time. Ived despite that convictction, his repuputation managed to bounce baback. He became admired by many people for his frankness, sense of humor. Have an french people anecdote about him, hecklers at the agricultural show. A huge, decades long career spanning many jobs. He is a giant of the french political scene. Thank you. We are expecting to hear f from president macron later today. Someone to stay at the top of their game for such a long time means making a lot of enemies. He did have a lot of feuds going politicians. It is true that in 1986, he was president since 1981 but lost the legislative election, so the conservatives won the majority. We had an unusual situation where you had a socialist president and a conservative Prime Minister and it was Jacques Chirac. It was more ideological. Had nationalized a lot of companies. This washirac decided a tense period between them because this had not happened before. Two years later, 1980 eight, it would square off against each other. If you go back, many people thought this was the end of jacque chirac. In the runup to the next election, 1995, he was betrayed by his own Prime Minister, who became very popular and decided he would run. Polls showed he had no chance. Sarkozy was openly challenging him, describing him as a lazy king, doing nothing, somemeone from your own party. You have to make a lot of enemies, but he also had a lot of friends and support. Mentioned he is one of the former political rivals who has expressed his feelings about his death. He is feeling Emotional Learning about his death. The president is going to give a speech, a tribute to Jacques Chirac. Across the political board, despite our divisions, everyone can have he was someone who was in love with france and everything that france is. He was able to oppose himself to the crazy invasion of iraq. Here she is paying tribute to him on the others of the political spectrum. This is a page of french history. It is something a lot of people have been saying. He represented an oldschool style of politician that does not exist anymore. Lets look at a big figure from the socialist party. She championed the 35 hour working week and had a lot of problems with Jack Charette with Jacques Chirac when he was president. She said he was a man who loved life and people. This is really something, what a man of the people he was. Here it is on our website. People. Lose to he famously loved those. He would spend hours. He loved french food. He did love french food. Animals, lots of photos of him with bulls and cows. He would spend hours tasting everything. People would love him. Hehe would get rounds of applaue at the fair. Thing that is coming up a lot. Stylist he is. He was a ladies man. This is l magazine this is elle magazine. How did he become this pop icon . Tall, broad shoulders, well dressed. It is not uncommon to see young people today with tshirts. Ithth photos of f jacques chirc become a legend in france, despite can like his politics or not. There was a time in the 1980s when he wanted to get elected in 1988 and there was a visit toto france of madonna. It was the first time she had been to france i think. Was primeirac minister at the time. There are photos of him looking terribly young and trendy. Backfired on his image. Was in an adolescent magazine and the question was what are you doing when you are not a politician . He said i see my friends and i listen to music. Here was a picture of him it was not the image everyone had. Here he is giving madonna a kiss. The photo i was telling you u about. Tory aboutut that one . Jumping the turnstiles. T that was during an inauguration for a metro station in paris. He was just doing a jokey t type of jump over the turnstiles. Thank you check out our website. We have all of those reactions and photographs during various errors various areas of his career. What did he do for the economy . There is criticism he was good at getting elected but was not great at running the country. They had the cohabitation period he was elected like most french president s are in the idea theyre going to cut down employment, reduce debt, reduce public spending, all of the good things we hear frequently. The result was mixed. The main promise the first time around is he was going to heal fracture between fracture betweene young and old, the impression that the wealth in france was being divided unequally between generations. He said he was going to create jobs and boost purchasing power. It did not go well at first. Whethers the idea of and pensions. Huge protests and we saw a difference in the perception of his ability to control the economy as a result. During the years he was president , the best years for wasare the years when Prime Minister and as he went back to and out of the cohabitation situation, we did see unemployment come down. Economic growth slowed down. By the end of his time in office, the economy was in a similar state. The debt had gone up nicely. He was successful in some ways, but perhaps not in others. That is the economy Nicolas Sarkozy inherited. Thank you. Joining us now is our International Affairs editor. You have been taking a look at his foreign policy. Most famous was opposing the u. S. Led invasion of iraq. If you are watching from the u. S. , if you know nothing else wouldJacques Chirac, you remember his adamant stance against the invasion on iraq. He had been in favor of the initial intervention after the september 11 attacks, bubut he said war should always be a last resort a and a last option. Unpopular with the americans, but wildly popular here in france. Friest was the freedom era. His popularity in france are some of the highest levels of any president in the fifth republic. 90 . [male narrator] coming up on reel south. Leaving an abuser is not an evevent, itss a process. I leleft and wenent back thrhree times. This last time he almost killed me in front of my daughter. [m[male narratoror] a yog mother barely survives a violent kidnapping by her estranged husband. In the 15 years ive been a law enforcemement officer, ive never seen anybody that was in that kind of shape. [kit] what would he be looking at as far as time . [taber] the most he could receive is 150 days in jail. And he b beat her for 4 1 1 2 days. [male narrator] the e victm and her r advocates battle to p put the abuser bebehind. What happened to you shouldnt happen to anybody ever. I know that, a and thats why im here. I do this workrk because i survived