Last president of the Fourth Republic, who called de Gaulle to power in the Algerian crisis of 1958
Born in Le Havre in 1882, he practised maritime and commercial law in his home town. A member of the Radical Party, he was elected district councillor in 1907, and in the First World War he volunteered and fought at Verdun. By the time he became a deputy in 1923 he had distanced himself from Radical anticlericalism and moved to the right; elected senator in 1936, he voted full powers to Pétain in July 1940. After the war he led the right-wing Independent Republicans and was Minister of Reconstruction and Urban Planning in 1947–1948. Elected President on the thirteenth ballot in December 1953, he called de Gaulle to head the government amid the Algerian crisis in May 1958, and handed over to him in January 1959.
Activities and affiliations
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1907–1923
Government and administration
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1923–1953
Legislature and state representation
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1947–1948
France state institutionsMinister of Reconstruction and Urban Planning
Government and administration -
1954–1959
France state institutionsPresident of the RepublicHeads of state and government of FranceMain
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1923.06–1935Deputy for Seine-Inférieure
- 1930.12.13–23Under-Secretary of State for the Interior
- 1936–1940Senator for Seine-Inférieure
- 1947.11–1948.09Minister of Reconstruction and Urban Planning
- 1948.11–1953Member of the Council of the Republic (vice-president from 1952)
- 1954.01.16–1959.01.08President of the Republic
- 1959–1962Member of the Constitutional Council