June 20, 1928 - Jean-Marie Le Pen
Over four decades, he reshaped the boundaries of acceptable political speech in France, pushing nationalist and anti-immigration positions from the radical fringe toward the mainstream — a shift scholars labeled the "lepénisation of minds." His legal convictions for Holocaust minimization and incitement to discrimination against Muslims mark the points where his rhetoric crossed into the prosecutable. The party he built outlasted his leadership and, under his daughter, became a permanent fixture of French electoral politics.
From Wikipedia
Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (French: [ʒɑ̃maʁi lə pɛn]; 20 June 1928 – 7 January 2025) was a French politician. He founded the far-right National Front (now National Rally) party and served as the party's president from 1972 to 2011 and as its honorary president from 2011 to 2015.
Born in Brittany, Le Pen focused on issues related to immigration to France, the European Union, traditional culture and values, law and order, and France's high rate of unemployment. His progression in the 1980s is known as the "lepénisation of minds" due to its noticeable effect on mainstream political opinion. His controversial speeches and his integration into public life made him a figure who polarized opinion. He was convicted of statements downplaying the Holocaust, and fined for incitement to discrimination regarding remarks made about Muslims in France. He was expelled from the party by his daughter Marine in 2015 after making controversial statements.
Le Pen's longevity in politics and his five attempts to become president of France made him a major figure in French political life.
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