Editing Jacques Chirac (section)

== Early life and education ==

=== Family background ===
Jacques René Chirac was born on 29 November 1932 in the [[5th arrondissement of Paris]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/4190491/Deces_2019.zip |title=Fichier des décès – année 2019 |trans-title=Death file – year 2019 |publisher=National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies |access-date=26 January 2021 |language=fr |archive-date=1 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101003654/https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/4190491/Deces_2019.zip |url-status=live }}</ref> He was the son of Abel François Marie Chirac (1898–1968), a successful executive for an aircraft company,<ref name=Bonjour /> and Marie-Louise Valette (1902–1973), a housewife. His grandparents were all teachers<ref>{{cite news |title=Jacques Chirac, French president, 1932-2019 |url=https://www.ft.com/content/8f1ec868-7e60-11e6-bc52-0c7211ef3198 |newspaper=Financial Times |date=26 September 2019 |access-date=1 January 2020 |last1=Graham |first1=Robert |archive-date=1 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001121712/https://www.ft.com/content/8f1ec868-7e60-11e6-bc52-0c7211ef3198/ |url-status=live }}</ref> from {{lang|fr|[[Sainte-Féréole]]|italic=no}} in {{lang|fr|[[Corrèze]]|italic=no}}. His great-grandparents on both sides were [[peasant]]s in the rural south-western region of the {{lang|fr|Corrèze|italic=no}}.<ref>{{cite news |title=The last true Gaullist: how Jacques Chirac charmed France |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2019/10/last-true-gaullist-how-jacques-chirac-charmed-france |work=[[New Statesman]] |access-date=1 January 2020 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004032425/https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2019/10/last-true-gaullist-how-jacques-chirac-charmed-france |archive-date=4 October 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

According to Chirac, his name "originates from the {{lang|fr|[[Occitan language|langue d'oc]]}}, that of the troubadours, therefore that of poetry".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boué-Merrac |first=Pierre |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLpYDwAAQBAJ&dq=chirac+pour+origine+la+langue+d%27oc%2C+celle+des+troubadours%2C+donc+celle+de+la+po%C3%A9sie&pg=PT33 |title=Jacques Chirac authentique : la biographie inédite du Ve Président de la Ve République |date=1995-01-01 |publisher=FeniXX réédition numérique |isbn=978-2-402-13414-9 |language=fr}}</ref> He was a [[Catholic Church|Catholic]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Jacques Chirac Fast Facts |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/21/europe/jacques-chirac-fast-facts |publisher=CNN |date=21 January 2013 |access-date=30 December 2019 |archive-date=1 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001121716/https://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/21/world/europe/jacques-chirac-fast-facts/index.html/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Chirac was an only child (his elder sister, Jacqueline, died in infancy nearly ten years before his birth).<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/dec/15/jacques-chirac-verdict-corruption-french |title=Jacques Chirac verdict welcomed by anti-corruption campaigners |last=Willsher |first=Kim |date=15 December 2011 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=28 September 2019 |archive-date=1 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001121722/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/dec/15/jacques-chirac-verdict-corruption-french/|url-status=live}}</ref> He was educated in Paris at the {{lang|fr|[[Cours Hattemer]]|italic=no}}, a private school.<ref>{{cite web|ref={{harvid|Quelques Anciens Celebres – Hattemar}} |url=http://www.hattemer.fr/fr/l-ecole/association-des-anciens-eleves/# |title=Quelques Anciens Celebres |publisher=Hattemer |access-date=30 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618133955/http://www.hattemer.fr/fr/l-ecole/association-des-anciens-eleves/ |archive-date=18 June 2015 }}</ref> He then attended the {{lang|fr|[[Lycée Carnot]]|italic=no}} and the {{lang|fr|[[Lycée Louis-le-Grand]]|italic=no}}. After his {{lang|fr|[[baccalauréat]]}}, behind his father's back, he went off to serve for three months as a sailor on a coal transport.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Chirac |first=Jacques |title=My Life in Politics |publisher=St Martin's Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1137088031 |page=11}}</ref>

Chirac played [[rugby union]] for [[CA Brive|Brive]]'s youth team, and also played at university level. He played [[number 8 (rugby union)|no. 8]] and [[second Row (rugby union)|second row]].<ref name=Famous>[http://wesclark.com/rrr/famous.html Famous Ruggers by Wes Clark and others] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090819010827/http://wesclark.com/rrr/famous.html |date=19 August 2009 }}. Retrieved 19 August 2009.</ref> At age 18, his ambition was to become a ship's captain.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Ross |first=George |year=2013 |title=The Trials and Triumphs of 'Egocentric Buffalo' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24517586 |journal=French Politics, Culture & Society |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=105–117 |doi=10.3167/fpcs.2013.310107 |jstor=24517586 |issn=1537-6370}}</ref>

=== Education and early career ===
At age 16, Chirac wanted to learn [[Sanskrit]] and found a [[White émigré|White Russian]] Sanskrit teacher in Paris who ended up teaching him Russian; by age 17 Chirac was almost fluent in Russian.<ref name=":1" /> Inspired by [[Charles de Gaulle]], Chirac started to pursue a civil service career in the 1950s. During this period, he joined the [[French Communist Party]], sold copies of {{lang|fr|[[L'Humanité]]}}, and took part in meetings of a communist cell.<ref name=d>''[[France 3]]'', 12 November 1993</ref> In 1950, he signed the Soviet-inspired [[Stockholm Appeal]] for the abolition of [[nuclear weapon]]s – which led him to be questioned when he applied for his first visa to the United States.<ref name="l'Humanité1995">{{cite journal |url=https://www.humanite.fr/1995-05-08_Articles_-Jacques-Chirac-sabre-au-clair |title=Jacques Chirac, sabre au clair |date=8 May 1995 |access-date=17 December 2011 |journal=[[L'Humanité]] |language=fr |archive-date=29 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100329031110/http://www.humanite.fr/1995-05-08_Articles_-Jacques-Chirac-sabre-au-clair |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 1953, after graduating from the {{lang|fr|[[Sciences Po]]|italic=no}}, he attended a non-credit course at [[Harvard University]]'s summer school, before entering the {{lang|fr|[[École nationale d'administration]]|italic=no}}, which trains France's top civil servants, in 1957.<ref name=":0" />

In the United States, Chirac worked at [[Anheuser-Busch]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/26/europe/jacques-chirac-former-french-president-died-intl/index.html |title=Jacques Chirac, former French president, is dead at 86 |access-date=26 September 2019 |publisher=CNN |date=26 September 2019 |archive-date=1 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001121733/https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/26/europe/jacques-chirac-former-french-president-died-intl/index.html/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Chirac trained as a reserve military officer in [[armoured warfare|armoured cavalry]] at [[Saumur]].<ref>{{cite book |language=fr |first1=Pierre |last1=Péan |title=L'inconnu de l'Elysée |location= Paris |publisher=Fayard |year=2007 |isbn=978-2213631493 }}</ref> He then volunteered to fight in the [[Algerian War]], using personal connections to be sent despite the reservations of his superiors. His superiors did not want to make him an officer because they suspected he had communist leanings.<ref name=g>Emmanuel Hecht and François Vey ''Chirac de A à Z, dictionnaire critique et impertinent'', A. Michel, 1995, {{ISBN|2-226-07664-6}}</ref> In 1965, he became an auditor in the [[Court of Audit (France)|Court of Auditors]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cvce.eu/en/obj/jacques_chirac-en-13bdfc92-f83f-4e62-aba8-2800aa9bde2f.html|title=Jacques Chirac|website=CVCE.eu|date=30 September 2019|access-date=17 January 2020|archive-date=1 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001121738/https://www.cvce.eu/en/obj/jacques_chirac-en-13bdfc92-f83f-4e62-aba8-2800aa9bde2f.html/|url-status=live}}</ref>