Francois Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was born in Jarnac, France. In 1938 he joined the French Army and fought in World War II, where he was wounded and later captured by the Nazis. He escaped and became part of the Resistance. In 1946, he was elected to the National Assembly and subsequently appointed to a number of government offices, including minister of veteran affairs and interior minister. In 1965, he was the candidate of the United Left in the presidential elections. In the 1972 balloting, Mitterrand came in a close second with 49.2 percent. He finally won the presidency in 1982.

Although leader of the Socialists, Mitterrand undertook a range of pro-business reforms, including the decentralization of government services and restructuring the industrial sector. However, he also nationalized more than 20 large firms. Mitterrand worked to enhance European integration and supported the expansion of the European Community to Spain and Portugal in 1986. He developed a close working relationship with German chancellor Helmut Kohl, but had a series of disagreements with U.S. president Ronald W. Reagan. For instance, Mitterrand offered rhetorical support for leftist movements in El Salvador and Nicaragua at a time when the United States supported regimes attempting to suppress those groups. The French president also opposed American efforts to isolate states such as Iran, Libya, and Syria that supported terrorism. Mitterrand argued that the West should engage these states and use economic incentives to entice the regimes to abandon support for terrorist groups.

Mitterrand was reelected in 1988. He supported initiatives to reduce tensions with the Soviet Union, but endorsed the democratization efforts in eastern and central Europe. Mitterrand offered military and diplomatic assistance during the Persian Gulf War, but opposed American global primacy. Mitterrand's relations with George H. W. Bush were better than had been the case with Reagan. For instance, Mitterrand supported the U.S. invasion of Panama, Operation Just Cause. Nonetheless, Mitterrand worked to improve the economic and political power of the European Community as a rival to the influence of the United States. In addition, Mitterrand viewed European integration as a means to constrain the economic power of the reunified Germany and prevent that country from dominating the continent. Consequently, he supported the Maastricht Treaty and European Monetary Union. He opposed Germany's diplomatic recognition of Slovenia and Croatia in 1991, but endorsed United Nations efforts to mediate the Bosnian Conflict. France was one of the first countries to deploy peacekeeping forces in Bosnia. Mitterrand hoped to demonstrate that crises such as the Balkan Wars could be managed without the involvement of the United States. Mitterrand also proposed that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe be strengthened as an alternative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The French president contended that NATO provided the United States with an undue amount of influence in European security. Mitterrand's interaction with the administration of William J. Clinton deteriorated over his opposition to U.S. policy toward Iraq, especially the continuation of economic sanctions on the regime of Saddam Hussein. Mitterrand left office in 1995 and died a year later.

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