Deputy chief of staff to the Minister of Local Authorities and Rural Affairs, Pierre Manenti is a historian of Gaullism and the Fifth Republic. He has just published
The Barons of Gaullism
(Passés composed, 2024).
LE FIGARO. - You dedicate your latest book to the “barons of Gaullism”. Who are they ? What is their role with De Gaulle?
Pierre MANENTI. -
The barons of Gaullism designate a group of half a dozen political figures who had gotten into the habit of meeting regularly, such as around lunches organized every fortnight, at the Maison de l'Amérique Latine, in Paris, to organize the life of Gaullism.
They were General de Gaulle's shadow men, both his closest advisors and his emissaries in all negotiations.
Gaston Palewski, Michel Debré, Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Roger Frey, Jacques Foccart and Olivier Guichard acted as heads of parliamentary groups in the National Assembly and the Senate, but also as organizers of territorial networks, clubs and movements revolving around the Gaullist parties (the RPF under the Fourth Republic, the UNR-UDR under the Fifth).
Between 1947 and 1995, they are essential in the history of the right and have also given two prime ministers to the country, as well as several ministers, which aroused many fantasies around their small circle.
They are also a network with shifting contours depending on the era, which means that their lunches have sometimes been attended by figures with a national destiny, such as André Malraux, Georges Pompidou or even Pierre Messmer.
Gaston Palewski, Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Jacques Soustelle… Is the “system of barons” anchored in a common participation in the Resistance, more than in an ideological corpus?
What binds the barons of Gaullism is first and foremost their unfailing loyalty to General de Gaulle.
You also mention the name of Jacques Soustelle, inevitably a baron of Gaullism under the Fourth Republic, but who argued with de Gaulle over French Algeria in 1960, went into exile and lost this title as soon as he broke his oath of loyalty.
They are truly “crusaders of the cross of Lorraine”, to use a phrase from the General.
They represent him, carry his word, and sometimes make him listen to reason, not hesitating to stand up to him, as when they pushed Chaban to the presidency of the National Assembly in 1958.
For fifteen years, at the same time as he reigned over Françafrique alongside the General and then Pompidou, Foccart followed all the elections, all the internal appointments to the Gaullist party, all the negotiations, establishing himself as a true baron of Gaullism!
Pierre Manenti
De Gaulle values them because they are comrades in arms, knights of the Round Table.
All of them have war titles and participated in the Resistance fights, with a nuance for the youngest of them, Guichard, who was nevertheless engaged in the armies of the Liberation.
In the war and the Resistance, the barons especially drew a cult of secrecy, of information, of intelligence, which they then used as a political weapon to hold down the Gaullist family.
There are a lot of mysteries surrounding the barons and their lunches, which is why I wanted to investigate the reality of their background and their networks.
A dark legend surrounds Jacques Foccart, the Françafriqueé eMonsieur, seen as a sulphurous character responsible for the dirty works of the regime. Who was he ? Is the legend true?
The character of Jacques Foccart is fascinating because he is a faithful among the faithful, who joined the adventure of Gaullism in 1946, by "pushing" the list of a close friend of the General in Mayenne, Jacques Soustelle.
Becoming a member of the RPF in 1947, he rose through the ranks one by one, specializing in African and West Indian issues, but also establishing himself as a networker, a skillful negotiator and a fierce politician.
De Gaulle also entrusted him with the general secretariat of his party in 1954, before calling him to his side at Matignon in 1958 then at the Élysée in 1959, after Foccart played an important role during the events of May 1958 The character is feared as much as he is respected.
He is a prince-maker, very knowledgeable about the electoral map, to whom the General grants an audience every evening, which gives him enormous power at the time.
And for fifteen years, at the same time as he reigned over Françafrique alongside the General and then Pompidou, Foccart followed all the elections, all the internal appointments to the Gaullist party, all the negotiations, establishing himself as a true baron of Gaullism !
However, one should not believe everything that has been said or written about the character.
Like many, he draws his political strength from his black legend.
Among the barons, Michel Debré seems to be the éminence grise and the successor of De Gaulle. You call him “the architect”…
Yes, unlike profiles more focused on intelligence and networks, like Jacques Foccartou Roger Frey, or seasoned politicians, like Jacques Chaban-Delmas, deputy mayor of Bordeaux and president of the National Assembly, Michel Debré is the intellectual of the group.
Author of a thesis on craftsmanship, master of requests to the Council of State, ministerial cabinet colleague of Paul Reynaud under the Third Republic, he is a jack of all trades, who asserts himself as a valuable advisor for General de Gaulle when he brought him to his side in the Provisional Government, in 1944-1946.
However, Chaban's failure in the 1974 presidential election, Jacques Chirac's nomination to Matignon and then his takeover of the Gaullist party the same year marginalized the barons.
Pierre Manenti
Debré's vision, his intuitions, his reforming desire – he is the father of the National School of Administration at the Liberation!
– doubled as a “political card” when he was elected senator, president of the Gaullist group at the Palais du Luxembourg, and established himself as a fierce opponent of the Fourth Republic.
It was to this architect that de Gaulle entrusted the task of building his cathedral in 1958, entrusting him with the drafting of the constitution of the Fifth Republic and then the functions of prime minister.
And faithful to this confidence, Debré long wanted to defend this Gaullist heritage in the face of any attempt at recovery, to the point of running himself in the 1981 presidential election, against the candidate nominated by his political family: Jacques Chirac.
The barons of Gaullism defined Gaullism after the disappearance of De Gaulle. Can you be a Gaullist without having known the General? Are there still Gaullists today?
Yes, moreover, paradoxically, the barons are never as powerful as in the absence of the General.
They met in the 1950s, when de Gaulle gained ground, because it was necessary to keep the party and its networks alive, despite the absence of the great leader.
When de Gaulle left the political scene in 1969, they became guardians of the temple, who dubbed Georges Pompidou, candidate for the presidential election, and imposed Jacques Chaban-Delmas as prime minister alongside him.
However, Chaban's failure in the 1974 presidential election, Jacques Chirac's nomination to Matignon and then his takeover of the Gaullist party the same year marginalized the barons.
They no longer hold their own family, which does not prevent them from continuing the fight in the name of a certain idea of Gaullism.
Also read The Barons of Gaullism, by Pierre Manenti: in the shadow of the General
In fact, from political leaders, they gradually became defenders of Gaullist memory, which is why, as their disappearances progressed, the appellation of “barons of Gaullism” was attributed to other great figures of Gaullism. adventure like Albin Chalandon or Yves Guéna.
There are not many contemporaries left from the period, with the exception of Jacques Trorial, the General's last minister still alive, or Pierre Mazeaud, but for all that the flame of Gaullism continues to burn with intensity.
His desire to overcome divisions, his fight for national sovereignty, his concern for a reconciliation of bosses and workers are glaring current challenges and make me say that Gaullism still has its place in our political life!
The barons of Gaullism Composed pasts