Editing Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (section)

==Early political career==

===First offices: 1956–1962===
In 1956, he was elected to the [[National Assembly (France)|National Assembly]] as a deputy for the [[Puy-de-Dôme]] ''département'', in the domain of his maternal family.{{sfn|Thody|2002|p=68}} He joined the [[National Centre of Independents and Peasants]] (CNIP), a conservative grouping.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ecpr.eu/Filestore/PaperProposal/15b88a8c-1207-42a7-84a4-73b07cda0edb.pdf|title=Pays Emergents|publisher=ECPR.edu|access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref> After the proclamation of the [[French Fifth Republic|Fifth Republic]], the CNIP leader [[Antoine Pinay]] became Minister of Economy and Finance and chose him as Secretary of State for Finances from 1959 to 1962.<ref name=NYTobit/>

===Member of the Gaullist majority: 1962–1974===
[[File:Meeting with Finance Minister of France. Giscard D'Estaing, President Kennedy. White House, Oval Office. - NARA - 194179.jpg|right|thumb|Giscard with US president [[John F. Kennedy]] at the [[White House]] in 1962]]
[[File:Valery Giscard D'estaing com Emílio Médici, em visita ao Brasil, 1971.tif|thumb|Giscard d'Estaing (center) with Brazilian president [[Emílio Garrastazu Médici]] (left) in Brazil, 1971]]
In 1962, while Giscard had been nominated [[Ministry of the Economy and Finance (France)|Minister of Economy and Finance]], his party broke with the Gaullists and left the majority coalition.<ref name=NYTobit/><ref name=WPO/> Giscard refused to resign and founded the [[Independent Republicans]] (RI), which became the junior partner of the Gaullists in the "presidential majority".<ref name=BBCobit/> It was during his time at the Ministry of the Economy that he coined the phrase "[[exorbitant privilege]]" to characterise the hegemony of the US dollar in international payments under the [[Bretton Woods system]].<ref name="books.google.fr">{{Cite book|last=Eichengreen|first=Barry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TIlpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA4|title=Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System|date=2011-01-07|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-978148-5|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Siddiqu |first1=Khubaib |title=Review: Barry Eichengreen, Exorbitant privilege: the rise and fall of the dollar |url=https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/Book-Review-5-May-2012.pdf |website=Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific |publisher=Asia-Pacific Research and Training Network on Trade |access-date=5 December 2020 |date=May 2012}}</ref>

However, in 1966, he was dismissed from the cabinet.<ref name=NYTobit/> He transformed the RI into a political party, the [[Independent Republicans|National Federation of the Independent Republicans]] (FNRI), and founded the [[Perspectives and Realities Clubs]].<ref name=NYTobit/><ref name=BBCobit/> In this, he criticised the "solitary practice of the power" and summarised his position towards De Gaulle's policy by a "yes, but ...".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://goodwordnews.com/the-little-phrases-of-valery-giscard-destaing/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305070335/https://goodwordnews.com/the-little-phrases-of-valery-giscard-destaing/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=5 March 2021|title=The Little Phrases Of Valéry Giscard D'Estaing|publisher=Good Word News|access-date=3 December 2020|date=3 December 2020}}</ref> As chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Finances, he criticised his successor in the cabinet.<ref name=BBCobit/>

For that reason the Gaullists refused to re-elect him to that position after the [[1968 French legislative election|1968 legislative election]].<ref name=BBCobit/> In 1969, unlike most of FNRI's elected officials, Giscard advocated a "no" vote in the [[1969 French constitutional referendum|constitutional referendum]] concerning the regions and the Senate, while De Gaulle had announced his intention to resign if the "no" won.<ref name=breakup/> The Gaullists accused him of being largely responsible for De Gaulle's departure.<ref name=breakup>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/countries/fr/fr_political.html|title=Commanding Heights|publisher=[[PBS]]|access-date=3 December 2020}}</ref><ref name=BBCobit/>

During the [[1969 French presidential election|1969 presidential campaign]], he supported the winning candidate [[Georges Pompidou]], after which he returned to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.<ref name=BBCobit/> He was representative of a new generation of politicians emerging from the senior civil service, seen as "[[Technocracy|technocrats]]".<ref name=TTO>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2020/12/03/valery-giscard-destaing-centre-right-french-president-supported/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2020/12/03/valery-giscard-destaing-centre-right-french-president-supported/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, centre-Right French President who supported a united Europe – obituary|newspaper=The Telegraph|access-date=3 December 2020|date=2 December 2020|last1=Obituaries|first1=Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

=== Presidential election victory ===
In 1974, after the sudden death of President Georges Pompidou, Giscard announced his candidacy for the presidency.<ref name=WPO/><ref name=NYTobit/> His two main challengers were [[François Mitterrand]] for the left and [[Jacques Chaban-Delmas]], a former Gaullist prime minister.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20201203-key-dates-in-the-life-of-former-french-president-val%C3%A9ry-giscard-d-estaing|title=Key dates in the life of former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing|date=3 December 2020|publisher=France24|access-date=3 December 2020}}</ref> [[Jacques Chirac]] and other Gaullist personalities published the {{ill|Call of the 43|fr|Appel des 43}} where they explained that Giscard was the best candidate to prevent the election of Mitterrand.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.cairn.info/revue-parlements1-2007-1-page-109.htm|title=The Appel des 43 and the Gaullist movement: political maneuver, generational change and the rebellion of the "godillots"|journal=Parlement[s], Revue d'histoire politique |volume=7 |issue=1 |publisher=Cairn|access-date=3 December 2020|last1=Pozzi |first1=Jérôme |doi=10.3917/parl.007.0109 }}</ref> In [[1974 French presidential election|the election]], Giscard finished well ahead of Chaban-Delmas in the first round, though coming second to Mitterrand.<ref name=BBCobit/> In the run-off on 20 May, however, Giscard narrowly defeated Mitterrand, receiving 50.7% of the vote.<ref>{{cite news|title=France Elects Giscard President For 7 Years After A Close Contest; Left Turned Back|first=Flora|last=Lewis|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70617FF3959127A93C2AB178ED85F408785F9|newspaper=The New York Times|date=20 May 1974|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227013534/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70617FF3959127A93C2AB178ED85F408785F9|archive-date=27 February 2014}}</ref>