Breaking the Gaullian Mould: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and the Modernisation of French Presidential Communication

Abstract

This article examines former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's use of television to assert his presidential authority and to promote a new, modernised and informal style of communication in sharp contrast with his Gaullist predecessors' aloof and dramatic personas. The article focuses on three television programmes, each of which highlights some key ideas at the heart of Giscard d'Estaing's modernised presidential communication: the desacralisation of the presidential office; ‘accountability’ (displayed empathy for the electorate's preoccupations) and ‘décrispation’ or the neutralisation of presidential rhetoric. It also illustrates the growing personalisation of French political communication in the 1970s. It is argued that the difficulties encountered by Giscard d'Estaing to break the ‘Gaullian mould’ and adopt a more casual style of leadership without jeopardising the prestige associated with the presidential office may have helped his successors to better define their styles of communication and thus set an important precedent in the development of French presidential communication.

Notes

[1] Notably, Giscard d'Estaing's confident television performance during his face-to-face debate with Mitterrand in 1974. His famous line ‘Monsieur Mitterrand, vous n'avez pas le monopole du coeur!’ is generally considered in France as one of the election's most memorable moments.

[2] Quoted from Giscard d'Estaing's campaign broadcast of 11 May 1974. A full transcription of this speech may be found in Cotteret et al., (1976, p. 182).

[3] For a full transcript of this speech, consult the website of La documentation française: http://discours-publics.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/rechlogos/servlet/RechServlet?_page = RESULTAT&_mode = AVANCEE &_texte = COMPLET&_numDoc = 0&_refDoc = full/1974/ d7/5000/7470050000501U.xml

[4] Radioscopie, broadcast on Antenne 2 on 22 May 1975. The full transcript of this interview may be found at http://discours-publics.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/rechlogos/servlet/RechServlet? _page = RESULTAT&_pageNum = 1&_mode = AVANCEE &_texte = COMPLET&_num Doc = 0&_refDoc = full/1975/d7/4250/7570042005301U.xml

[5] This quotation and the next are extracts from the original programme Élysée Portes Ouvertes, broadcast on 20 May 1975 on TF1. This programme is available to researchers at the Inathèque de France, Paris.

[6] See note 5.

[7] This quotation is an extract from the original programme La France à l'Élysée, broadcast on 1 February 1977 on Antenne 2. This programme is available to researchers at the Inathèque de France, Paris.

[8] See for example Robert Andrieu in L'Humanité, 18 Jan. 1977: ‘Ce qui frappe […] c'est la virtuosité verbale avec laquelle, une fois de plus, le président de la République escamote les problèmes essentiels quand il n'esquive pas complètement les questions gênantes.’