Looking through the Lens of America we tend to know ex-President Chirac for one, maybe two things.
First, we know him for America's rebranding of that famous spud dish to "Freedom Fries." Indeed, it was M.Chirac who said "non" to Baby Bush when asked to join the invasion of Iraq.
Second, if we are remotely aware we might remember that M.Chirac was found guilty of corruption after leaving office for things he did during his time as maire de Paris.
He came to presidential power promising economic reform, but he left with little to show for his promises. And yet...
This is such a narrow lens to view the man's life through.
The French, it turns out, seemed to love him dearly. He seems to have been a very real Man of the People kind of guy.
He loved sports. He loved to eat. He loved historical artifacts. He was the first French President to openly talk about France's role in the atrocities of WWII.
By comparison, recent French Presidents are pale ghosts. ex-President Bling-Bling (Sarkozy) also faces corruption charges, but there is little public sympathy. ex-President Normal (Holland) is perhaps best known for his Scooter of Love incident. President Macron feels like a soulless ex-banker political numbers on a spreadsheet technocrat.
By these comparisons, Jacques Chirac was a Full Blooded Frenchmen in the classic style.
Someone who belongs to our French/English Conversation group would say "hi" to M.Chirac whenever he'd run into him at one of his favorite cafes here in Paris.
Our friend would occasionally be out walking the family dog and would spy the famous man sitting in his seat (a French friend pointed out to us exactly which seat that used to be and smiled that we would know anything about the subject in the first place) watching the world go by and call out to him, "Bonjour Monsieur le President". M.Chirac was known to reply "Je ne suis pas President." But, he told the our friend "you have a nice dog."
In recent years M.Chirac was seen less and less in his seat at the cafe. He was looking like he was on the decline. We knew the end would come sooner rather than later.
While we're heard stories from our friends, and while we remember the "Freedom Fries" incident, we had no idea Jacques Chirac had done so many things and had had such a positive impact on France. Makes us wonder why it sometimes takes death for us to realize things that could or should be realized.
RIP ex-President Chirac.
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