“Élysée, the private album of presidents”, a special issue of Paris Match

To each his own photographer

The example comes from Washington and hits the mark. It is signed JFK and dates back to the dawn of the 1960s. Barely elected, it was with his family that John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the youngest president in the history of the United States, entered the White House. The children of the “First Family” are a little girl, Caroline, and a toddler, John Jr, quickly nicknamed “John-John”. Understanding the benefit he would derive from bringing the press – and therefore the general public – into his intimacy, he convinced Jackie, his radiant wife, to receive a television crew to film the arrangements she had made in the presidential residence. Never seen ! He himself opens the Oval office to his personal photographer. What emerges is an iconic snapshot, taken on May 25, 1962, where 2-year-old John-John makes the cavity under the president’s “Resolute desk” his favorite playground.

The name of Jacques Lowe, official photographer of the American president, makes French reporters dream. He bequeathed tens of thousands of images devoted to the intimacy of the Kennedys… of which 40,000 negatives disappeared in the ashes of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001! But his style has made history. It renews the genre, beyond the official portraits. In France, General de Gaulle had opened the doors of La Boisserie, his refuge in Colombey, during the “crossing of the desert”, at the time when he was writing his “War Memoirs”. We were in 1954. For Paris Match, Jean Mangeot will draw from this privileged invitation an image that has also become iconic: in an “old-fashioned” pose, Yvonne, model wife, was knitting alongside the General. De Gaulle, who became president four years later, will also open his new office, at the Élysée, all in gilding and majesty.

The Pompidou “Revolution” then rings. Claude, in love with modernity, suddenly changes the situation. On February 14, 1970, she posed next to her husband, at the Elysée office, where the General had settled, shortly before, in a very official incarnation. But it is especially at the time of the holidays that the style will make date in turn. No more racing at sea on Tropézienne-style Chris-Crafts. The day when Pompidou had complained of being spied on by the paparazzi, de Gaulle had given him this advice: “If you want peace of mind, go to Brittany!” “ From then on, followed by François Pagès, camera in hand, Pompidou will indulge in all relaxation to the charms of shrimp fishing, on the beaches of Cornouaille, facing the islands of Glénan, in South Finistère.

To each president, his photographer… from Paris Match. Jean Mangeot (Charles de Gaulle), François Pagès (Georges Pompidou), Jean-Claude Sauer (Valéry Giscard d’Estaing), Claude Azoulay (François Mitterrand), Benoit Gysembergh (Jacques Chirac)… all will be attached, according to the title of the book-album by Claude Azoulay, to reveal, naturally, the life of the “male presidents”. If it was necessary to return to Pompidou, pioneer of the genre, as a wink of circumstance, Nicolas Sarkozy – then between turbulences and matrimonial renewal – will strike a pose with Carla, celebrating as a couple, on May 7, 2008, the first anniversary of his election to the supreme office.

One hundred days before the 2022 presidential election, paris match opens the private album of the heads of state of the Fifth Republic.

“Élysée, the private album of presidents”, a special issue of Paris Match

Discover our special issue “Élysée, the private album of presidents”, 100 pages of photos and exclusive reports devoted to the intimate life of heads of state, on sale from Thursday 12 January at your newsagent. ..

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