A member of the Gaullist party RPR, he succeeded his father Jean Médecin as mayor of the city of Nice, serving from 1966 to 1990.
He was elected mayor of Nice in 1966 after his father died in office, and member of Parliament the year after (positions he held simultaneously).
[3] He was a supporter of the apartheid regime in South Africa, and in 1974 proposed a town-twinning link between Nice and Cape Town.
[4] In the 1980s Médecin became the target of corruption allegations, following an exposé of judicial and police wrongdoing in Nice by British novelist Graham Greene.
In the context of an article about different philosophies on the preparation of salade niçoise, chef and food writer for the Financial Times Rowley Leigh wrote of the book: "Things changed in 1983 with the publication of the English translation of Cuisine Niçoise: Recipes from a Mediterranean Kitchen by one Jacques Médecin.
In spite of the fact that Médecin was a famously racist mayor of Nice who was extradited from South America in order to face trial on corruption charges, the book, unlike its author, was a delight...