179. French Presidents: 1981-2022

In the second of two episodes covering France's post-war presidents, Tom and Dominic drill down into the remaining historical statesmen, bringing us right up to the current day.
François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy, François Hollande, and Emmanuel Macron - there are some incredible stories...
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Producer: Dom JohnsonExec Producer: Tony Pastor
Twitter:@TheRestHistory@holland_tom@dcsandbrook
Email: [e-mail]

[@carlsmith8815]

There are three comments below mine. It's an Anglo-Saxon mirthful glance at French political institutions. The policies weren't examined, but it's knock about session for the interested generalist , although as a former student of French politics l learnt things and suspected inaccuracies. A slogan posed in my politics paper was" The Third Republic was like a radish red on the outside and white throughout. ? " Our intrepid pair echo that at the end . So Le Pen senior was in Accion ..in the 30s' . More linear probably that Chirac from communism to conservatism and Mitterand from conservative to socialist.

[@billkohnen666]

Fantastic insight on how the French President “is” France as the Monarch of the republic. Comment about Macron marrying Jill Biden and having Joe as his best man still has me laughing.

[@ulrichmeise3658]

Look, sorry, but you don't seem to know a lot about French presidents... I mean, fair enough, you dont really seem to care about their policies, only about the scandals and spleens, reveiling more about English moral obsessions... or about you trying to emulate Plutarch maybe. But even on their private life you are 1) completely mistaken: e.g. Hollande was famously never married to Royal (btw, he just got married to Julie Gayet this summer, AFTER the publication of this podcast) and 2) you are missing the best story about Sarkozys lovelife: he met his 2. wife Cecilia for the first time when he (as mayor) was officiating her marriage to a TV-presenter! (No jokes about ius primae noctis, please, unless you believe that her 7-months-pregnancy at the time was caused by some holy spirit...)

[@davidgormley7990]

There's an interesting podcast to be made about post 1945 French presidents. This is not it. Very stereotypical english view of France and the French. Maybe you should rename the pod The Rest Is Mockery. Hardly surprising considering the involvement of Sandbrook, but would expect better of Holland. Merde.

[@Kyushu314]

I’m generally a fan of these guys but I found the tone of this petty and demeaning. A bit of gossip mongering for fun and spice, why not? But too much veers into spite.