Word: poher
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...relaxed manner reserved for those far out in front, Ex-Premier Georges Pompidou last week nailed down the platform of post-De Gaullism that had won him an unexpectedly wide lead over his only remaining rival for the French presidency, Interim President Alain Poher. He announced that he would share some of his allotted television campaign with key supporters from the French political center, thereby inviting further defections from the already depleted opposition. He planned to visit six more cities across France, plainly hoping for a wide national mandate in the runoff election June 15. As if to help...
...face of what political observers labeled "Pompidoulist" strength, however, Poher showed no inclination to retire from French politics as quickly -or as quietly-as he entered. "I became a candidate in the first place to avoid a confrontation between Gaullism and Communism, and I succeeded because I came in second," he explained. What is more, he intended to step up the fight, abandoning his earlier tactic of campaigning only by TV and press conference in favor of a jetliner tour of twelve cities in five days. His determination remained in spite of editorials in the prestigious Le Monde...
...Poher from Nowhere. The mathematics were all too clear. Pompidou captured 44.47% of the total vote in last week's Round 1 of balloting, just a shade behind De Gaulle's showing in his first-round presidential campaign in 1965, and he ran first in all but one of France's 95 metropolitan departments. Poher's 23.21% of the tally made him a distant second with barely half as many votes. Communist Jacques Duclos, who got only one-third as many votes as Poher in early campaign polls, finished up just two points behind...
...election, he declared, is a "contract between the person elected and the electorate." What followed were the terms of Poher's own contract proposal, and they constituted a clear bid to un-Gaullize France. He pledged to renew ties with the Atlantic alliance, and to reduce France's heavy foreign aid load. Domestically, he promised to chip away at De Gaulle's extravagant "prestige items" and to work for decent housing for everyone, job security and protection against illness...
Change and Continuity. Pompidou, who had campaigned in executive jet, helicopter and auto, heard of Poher's platform at a rally in Toulouse. He brought down the house with the laser wit that has constantly amused his large crowds. "I will not recite to you the twelve commandments of God," he assured his audience, but then delightedly mimicked one: "Thou shalt construct housing-without any money, of course...