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Jean-Marie Le Pen: The End of the "Legend" of the Far Right in France
Jean-Marie Le Pen has long described himself as "the legend," and although opinions differ on this characterization, his legacy as one of the prominent figures of the French far right has not been erased from history. Le Pen, who reached the finals of the presidential election in 2002, passed away at the age of 96 in the Paris region.
His family announced in a statement circulated in the media that Jean-Marie Le Pen died on Tuesday afternoon, surrounded by his loved ones. He often said, "Yes, I will leave a mark in history because I am a legend at heart," emphasizing the success of his political life.
Jean-Marie Le Pen was born on June 20, 1928, in the French municipality of La Trinité, and he was educated at a boarding school in Vannes. In the 1940s, he enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Paris, before embarking on a military career by joining the French Foreign Legion in 1954, serving in several countries including Algeria and Indochina.
After returning to France, Le Pen became a follower of the writer and politician Pierre Poujade, who led a protest movement against taxes during that period. In 1956, he was elected as the youngest member of the National Assembly, and he was reelected in 1958, but was defeated in 1962, prompting him to establish an association that recorded Nazi speeches and military songs.
The year 1972 was pivotal in his career, as he founded the National Front party (now the National Rally), which he viewed as a vessel for far-right ideology. From its inception, the party focused on what it considered the threat of immigration, particularly from France's former colonies in North Africa.
Le Pen did not believe in the equality of races and fought to promote a culture of xenophobia. He stated in a televised interview in 1996: "I believe in the inequality of races, and history clearly shows that. They do not have the same ability or level of development."
He opposed European integration and called for the reinstatement of the death penalty, as well as a ban on the construction of new mosques in France. He was involved in several political controversies due to his provocative positions, having been sentenced in the 1960s to suspended prison time for "apologizing for war crimes," and was convicted in the 1980s for violating laws prohibiting Holocaust denial.
Despite this, Le Pen garnered significant support from the working class, which was affected by rising crime and unemployment rates during the 1980s and 1990s, although this support did not translate into substantial electoral votes. Le Pen ran for the presidency several times but secured only 1% of the vote in 1974 and 15% in 1988 and 1995.
Le Pen achieved a notable accomplishment in 2002 when he defeated Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in the first round of the election, but he lost easily in the second round. In 2007, he received over 10% of the votes in the first round, which was not enough to qualify him for the runoff.
In 2010, Le Pen announced that he would step down from leadership of the National Rally, and his daughter, Marine Le Pen, who is 56 years old, was appointed as his successor in January 2011. Marine Le Pen faced current French President Emmanuel Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections but was also unable to achieve victory.
