Simplify the following text for a Grade 14 native English-speaking person.
Original: In 1981 Mitterrand defeated the incumbent conservative , ValÃ ry Giscard d'Estaing , to become the first socialist of the Fifth Republic to be elected President of France by universal suffrage .
Simplified: In 1981 Mitterrand defeated the conservative , ValÃ ry Giscard d'Estaing , to become the first socialist elected President of France by universal suffrage .