PARIS (CNN) -- Francois Mitterrand has been dead for a year,
but at the United Nation's Educational, Scientific and
Cultural organization, dozens of past and present world
leaders flew to Paris for a two-day discussion of his
international policy.
"He was very French, but he was president for 14 years and a
major player in Europe," explains former British Prime
Minister David Owen.
In fact, the French seem thoroughly caught up in Mitterrand
memories, whether it be with an article in a women's magazine
which investigates the late president's taste in women other
than his wife, or the commemorative stamps that are selling
briskly at post offices.
Nostalgia for Mitterrand is running high.
Mitterrand always said he was confident in the way history
would judge his era, but a year after his death it is clearer
than ever how much trouble he took to make sure history got
it right.
Even scandals cannot tarnish Mitterrand legacy
The books he wrote, or collaborated on, established his
version of the facts. The monuments he constructed with what
opponents called the lavishness of the pharaohs, established
in steel and glass the Mitterrand epoch.
He laid out the framework for the Mitterrand Institute,
headquartered and staffed at public expense, to look after
his personal papers, 10,000 boxes of them, under the careful
control of his former archivist.
"Some people might look for the sensational, and the
institute is not here to feed scandals," says Dominique
Bertinotti of the institute.
Knowing there were scandals to feed, Mitterrand made no
secret, in the last months before his death, that he had a
mistress for 20 years and had fathered a daughter by her.
Indeed, his second family even attended his funeral.
Even more difficult to explain was Mitterrand's controversial
participation in the pro-Nazi Vichy government during World
War II. To get his version of the story out while he was
still alive, the president recorded an interview for national
television.
Family suppressed book about his cancer
There is also the matter of his cancer.
Mitterrand came to power in 1981, promising openness about
his health, but suppressed any mention of the cancer he
struggled with through much of his term in office.
When his personal doctor wrote a book detailing the
president's struggle with cancer, Mitterrand's family sued --
successfully -- to keep it out of the bookstores and off the
Internet.
Not only have his family and friends united to preserve his
image, they also control many of the media rights to his
visual archives.
Some here, like writer Paul Webster, are fascinated by the
way the French president tried to control the way history
would treat him, but they are doubtful that he will get away
with it.
Webster is author of "Mitterrand l'Autre Histoire"
("Mitterrand's Other Story").
"Over the next 20 years or so," he says, "when we can take a
certain distance from Mitterrand's career, the image that
will emerge will be not be that which Mitterrand hoped to
protect."
French still regard him warmly
Still, whether it was personally overseeing each picture that
went into his political advertising, or directing the leader
of Germany to the best spot for a photo opportunity,
Mitterrand did such a thorough job of controlling his image
when he was alive that historians may find it difficult to
sort out fact from spin control.
For many in France, it may not make much difference. A recent
poll indicates that two out of three French have positive
memories of Mitterrand. Even those who disagreed with his
policies do not deny his great appeal to the French.
"They are a Latin people," says Sylvie Pierre-Brossolette,
author of "Paroles de Presidents" ("Sayings of Presidents").
"People who speak well, who are great actors, even if they
are thieves or liars or destroyed employment, they say 'he
was a great artist,' and Mitterrand did everything to prove
he was a good artist."
As the commemorative roses pile up outside the door of the
apartment where Mitterrand died, and the true believers
express their emotions for the cameras, it seems clear that,
for at least the first year, Francois Mitterrand has
successfully managed his image beyond the grave.