Jean-Marie Le Pen, Rabble-Rousing Leader of French Far Right, Dies at 96 NYT | Top Stories By: Robert D. McFadden 7 January 2025 at 20:31 He ran unsuccessfully for the French presidency five times, riding waves of discontent and xenophobia as the leader of the National Front party. © Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma/CORBIS, via Getty ImagesJean-Marie Le Pen, foreground, at a rally in Paris in 1984.