Paul Ramadier

France state institutions Social democracy France France 1888–1961 ○ Natural causes

First premier of the Fourth Republic, who dismissed the communist ministers in 1947 and ended tripartisme

Born in La Rochelle in 1888, the son of a psychiatrist, he studied law in Toulouse, became a lawyer and was active in the socialist movement from 1904. He became mayor of Decazeville in 1919 and was elected socialist deputy for the Aveyron in 1928. Arguing for socialist participation in government, he left the SFIO in 1933 for the neosocialist Socialist Party of France and then the Socialist Republican Union. He voted against full powers for Pétain in July 1940, rejoined the SFIO during the Occupation and was active in the Resistance. He was Minister of Supply in de Gaulle's government in 1944–1945, and in January 1947 became the first President of the Council of the Fourth Republic, dismissing the communist ministers in May and backing the Marshall Plan. He was finance minister under Mollet in 1956–1957 and died in Rodez in 1961.

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