During his closing speech for the political return of the Insoumis on Sunday, the movement’s coordinator, Manuel Bompard, nicknamed the head of state “Mac Macron”. A reference to President Patrice de Mac Mahon who had also dissolved the Assembly in 1877.
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This is a political anecdote that takes us back to the Thirde Republic. Sunday August 25, during the closing speech of the return of the Insoumis, in Châteauneuf-sur-Isère, in the Drôme, Manuel Bompard wanted to remobilize his troops by naming the head of state “Mac Macron”. A political reference to Patrice de Mac Mahon which may not speak to everyone.
Who is Patrice de Mac Mahon?
Patrice de Mac Mahon, Count of Mac Mahon, was a French politician born in Saône-et-Loire in 1808. Coming from an Irish family who had taken refuge in France, he entered the special military school of Saint-Cyr and joined the army in 1827. In 1856, he became a senator of the Second Empire and met with some success during the Italian campaign of 1859, for which he received the marshal’s baton and was made Duke of Magenta by Napoleon III.
Taken prisoner during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Patrice de Mac Mahon was finally elected President of the Republic on May 24, 1873 and succeeded Adolphe Thiers with a royalist project. This project of monarchical restoration not being successful, Mac Mahon had the seven-year term adopted on November 20, 1873. This term of office would survive, except for the parenthesis of the Vichy regime, until 2002. Patrice de Mac Mahon would ultimately not complete his term and resigned on January 30, 1879 after a little over five years and eight months as president.
What is the link with Emmanuel Macron?
Several personalities of the New Popular Front have had fun in recent days comparing Patrice de Mac Mahon and Emmanuel Macron, believing that the situation in which the latter finds himself is similar to that experienced by Mac Mahon in 1877. That year, the head of state asked Jules Simon, President of the Council, to resign and immediately appointed a conservative government led by Albert de Broglie, an Orleanist. Patrice de Mac Mahon then decided to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies, being certain of the victory of the conservatives.
On October 14, 1877, the left finally came out on top with 120 seats. A historical parallel that the NFP seized on because if Mac Mahon first tried to form a government of civil servants, he would ultimately be forced to appoint Jules Dufaure who would form a left-wing government. A wish today expressed on numerous occasions by the left-wing parties with the proposal of Lucie Castets. After two years without parliamentary support, President Mac Mahon finally resigned on January 30, 1879. Jules Grévy would succeed him.
