The man who changed the course of modern France In 1981, Francois Mitterrand became France's first popularly elected socialist president. By the time he completed his mandate, he had led the country for 14 years, longer than any other French head of state in modern times. Mitterrand mirrored France in all its imperfections and tragedies, its cowardice and glory, its weakness and its strength. In the wake of the Observatory affair (in which he orchestrated...