Socialist who was finance minister of the Popular Front and the first president of the Fourth Republic
Born in Revel, Haute-Garonne, in 1884, the son of a baker, he became a lawyer in Toulouse and was active in the SFIO from its founding. Elected socialist deputy for Muret in 1914, he refused to follow the majority into the communist party at the Tours Congress of 1920 and led the remaining socialist party alongside Léon Blum. As finance minister of the Popular Front government in 1936–1937 he devalued the franc, and he then served as Minister of Justice. On 10 July 1940 he was one of the eighty parliamentarians who voted against full powers for Pétain; escaping house arrest he joined the Resistance and reached London in 1943. After presiding over the Constituent Assembly in 1946, he was elected on 16 January 1947 as the first President of the Fourth Republic and served until 1954. He broke with Guy Mollet and left the party in 1958, and died in Paris in 1966.
Activities and affiliations
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1905–1958
French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO)
Political and party leadership -
1914–1947
Legislature and state representation
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1936–1938
France state institutionsMinister of Finance, Minister of Justice
Government and administration -
1947–1954
France state institutionsPresident of the RepublicHeads of state and government of FranceMain
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1914.05.10–1940.06Deputy for Muret, Haute-Garonne
- 1925.05.03–1947.01.17Mayor of Muret
- 1936.06.04–1937.06.21Minister of Finance
- 1937.06–1938.03Minister of Justice
- 1946–1947President of the Constituent Assembly and National Assembly
- 1947.01.16–1954.01.16President of the Republic
- 1959.03.05–1966.01.01Ex officio member of the Constitutional Council