 François Mitterrand, the Socialist president 1981–95 had been the Interior Minister 1954–55 and the Justice Minister 1955–57 during which time he had been deeply involved in the repression of the FLN, and it was only after Mitterrand's death in 1996 that Socialists started to become willing to talk about the war, and even then remaining very guarded about Mitterrand's role.Likewise, de Gaulle had promised in the Evian accords that the "pieds-noirs" could remain in Algeria, but after independence, the FLN had freely violated the accords, leading to the entire "pied-noir" population fleeing to France, usually with only the clothes they were wearing as they had lost everything they had in Algeria.For Gaullists, this was not exactly a shining moment to cherish.