The Real Francois Mitterrand

Tim Brown wrote: "And, while I am not a great admirer of Mitterrand, he was a quintessentially French leader of France, a man of honor and worthy of respect".

Christopher Jones replies: "Mitterrand laid a wreath every year at the grave of Marshal Petain, head of state of the Vichy regime. As for his policies, most commentators agree that if the first Mitterrand presidency had never occurred, France would have overtaken Germany as the leading economic power in Europe. His economic policies (do I dare call them that?) could be better described as massive conflict of interest and fraud on a gigantic scale that led his prime minister, Pierre Beregovoy to also shoot himself. Respect? For a liar? The French have duly relegated his biography to the poubelle (garbage can) of history. "He was a quintessentially French leader." There is nothing quintessentially French about Mitterrand. He was a power hungry politician a la Nixon or even Castro.

How the French feel towards Mitterrand and his ilk can be best described as pessimistically savvy. They are skeptical and under no illusions when a rascal like Mitterrand appears on the radarscreen. I guess that he will forever be remembered by an epithet that Giscard coined, "le Prince de l'equivoque."

RH:
Interesting. It is hard to find an American who will say a good word about Nixon. I hope Mitterrand has survived a little better.