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Outgoing French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who escaped a terrorist bomb in Corsica last month, sent a wire to the Vatican expressing "profound emotion," and he obviously did not exaggerate his feelings. An associate who was conferring with Giscard when the news came reported that the French President, who is noted for his icy reserve,' experienced "an enormous shock." Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi told reporters: "I am too shocked for words. What more...
Only after Mitterrand excused himself and disappeared into a staff workroom did the reporters learn that the 52% was for him, not for President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. When he returned a few moments later, phlegmatic as before, the questions began. "Do you believe those figures? Can they change?" They could change, he said, but not the outcome: the spread between him and Giscard was decisive. Well, then, why was he standing there talking about the weather? What was his reaction to the fact that he was suddenly President-elect of France? Tsk, tsk, he replied...
...majority of the French, the time had come at last for a dramatic change in the nation's long-frozen political landscape. Seven years under patrician, aloof President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing were enough. Twenty-three years of government by the same center-right majority had proved too much. As if they had been dared once too often to take the risk, French voters this week chose Socialist Leader François Mitterrand, 64, an unflappable veteran politician whom many thought a perennial loser, as the fourth President of the Fifth Republic. They thus embarked...
Indifference is an impressive but somewhat risky ploy. Rarely do public figures command the easy Gallic disdain of French President Valéry Discard d'Estaing. When Le Canard Enchaîné reported that Giscard had accepted $250,000 worth of diamonds as gifts from the Central African Republic's butcherous Emperor Bokassa, Giscard's reaction was roughly, "So what?" Of course, the French have a tradition of Non, je ne regrette rien. Across the channel, the Duke of Wellington once displayed something of that spirit when an old mistress (a Frenchwoman) threatened to publish...
...work in modern factories, riding horses, playing soccer. A crescendo: French-made washing machines, Renault cars, film stars and ballet scenes spell out progress and the good life. Then comes the man who claims responsibility for this idyllic island of well-being in a time of global torment: President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 55, pictured at his desk in the Elysée Palace, meeting foreign leaders, affably mixing with ordinary citizens. "France has found its face," concludes the narration. "With this face it is at peace with itself," The audience cheers. The lights...