His tenure was marked by a more liberal attitude on social issues—such as divorce, contraception and abortion—and by attempts to modernise the country and the office of the presidency, notably overseeing such far-reaching infrastructure projects as the TGV and the turn towards reliance on nuclear power as France's main energy source.

He promoted liberalisation of trade; however, his popularity suffered from the economic downturn that followed the 1973 energy crisis, marking the end of the "Trente Glorieuses" (the "Thirty Glorious Years" of prosperity after 1945).

As president, Giscard d'Estaing promoted cooperation among the European nations, especially in tandem with West Germany, 1974–1982 ruled by the first, second and third cabinet under chancelor Helmut Schmidt (SPD).

Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing[6] was born on 2 February 1926 in Koblenz, Germany, during the French occupation of the Rhineland.

[7] He was the elder son of Jean Edmond Lucien Giscard d'Estaing, a high-ranking civil servant, and his wife, Marthe Clémence Jacqueline Marie (May) Bardoux.

[14] 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.

[15] He transformed the RI into a political party, the National Federation of the Independent Republicans (FNRI), and founded the Perspectives and Realities Clubs.

[14] In 1969, unlike most of FNRI's elected officials, Giscard advocated a "no" vote in the constitutional referendum concerning the regions and the Senate, while De Gaulle had announced his intention to resign if the "no" won.

[25] Jacques Chirac and other Gaullist personalities published the Call of the 43 [fr] where they explained that Giscard was the best candidate to prevent the election of Mitterrand.

[29][30] On taking office Giscard was quick to initiate reforms; they included increasing the minimum wage as well as family allowances and old-age pensions.

[31] He extended the right to political asylum, expanded health insurance to cover all Frenchmen, lowered the voting age to 18, and modernised the divorce law.

[24] He took a ride on the Métro, ate monthly dinners with ordinary Frenchmen, and even invited garbage men from Paris to have breakfast with him in the Élysée Palace.

[37] However, when he learned that most Frenchmen were somewhat cool to this display of informality, Giscard became so aloof and distant that his opponents frequently attacked him as being too far removed from ordinary citizens.

[38][page needed] In domestic policy, Giscard's reforms worried the conservative electorate and the Gaullist party, especially the law by Simone Veil legalising abortion.

[39] Although he said he had "deep aversion against capital punishment", Giscard claimed in his 1974 campaign that he would apply the death penalty to people committing the most heinous crimes.

France under his administration was thus the last country in the European Community to apply the death penalty, and until the resumption of executions in the United States in 1977, the only in the Western world.

[24] Although France received many Chilean political refugees, Giscard d'Estaing's government secretly collaborated with Pinochet's and Videla's juntas as shown by journalist Marie-Monique Robin.

[49] In 1977, in Opération Lamantin, he ordered fighter jets to deploy in Mauritania and suppress the Polisario guerrillas fighting against the Mauritanian government.

Journiac largely continued Foccart's approach of maintaining French influence in its former colonies through a web of personal relationships with African strongmen.

In order to defend himself, Giscard d'Estaing claimed to have sold the diamonds and donated the proceeds to the Central African Red Cross.

His Socialist rival, François Mitterrand, acidly observed in the Assemblée Nationale that he was the "petit télégraphiste de Varsovie" ("little telegraph operator from Warsaw").

The Gravona brigade, led by François Santoni, placed two time bombs in the airport terminal in an area where Giscard was predicted to enter.

After delivering a solemn seven-minute address, he paused and bade a pronounced "Au revoir" before walking out as "La Marseillase" was played, leaving audiences to view his empty desk for the duration of the song.

[14] During the 1988 presidential campaign, he refused to choose publicly between the two right-wing candidates, his two former Prime Ministers Jacques Chirac and Raymond Barre.

[84] In an article for Le Monde in June 2007, published in English translation by The Irish Times, he said that a "divide and ratify" approach, whereby "public opinion would be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals we dare not present to them directly", would be unworthy and would reinforce the idea that the construction of Europe was being organised behind the public's backs by lawyers and diplomats;[85][86] the quotation was taken out of context by prominent supporters of a "no" vote and distorted to give the impression that Giscard was advocating such a deception, instead of repudiating it.

[101] It tells the story of French President Jacques-Henri Lambertye having a romantic liaison with Patricia, Princess of Cardiff of the British royal family.

[109] Former presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande,[110] 2017 presidential candidate Marine Le Pen,[110] German chancellor Angela Merkel,[111] and European Union leaders Charles Michel, David Sassoli, and Ursula von der Leyen all issued statements praising Giscard's efforts in modernising France and strengthening relations with the European Union.

[15] He introduced numerous small social reforms, such as reducing the voting age by three years, allowing divorce by common consent, and legalising abortion.

[15][14] He was committed to supporting innovative technology, and focused on creating the TGV high-speed rail network, promoting nuclear power, and developing the telephone system.

[113] In December 2022, Anne-Aymone Giscard d'Estaing put up some of her late husband's art and furniture for sale at Hotel Drouot: the collection included a Rodin bust of Mahler.