Charles Helou

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Charles Helou

Charles Helou (Arabic: شارل الحلو) (September 25, 1913-7 January 2001) was President of Lebanon from 1964 to 1970.

Born in Beirut, Helou was the scion of a powerful Maronite family from Baabda. He graduated with honours from St. Joseph's University in Beirut in 1929, and went on to complete a Law degree in 1934. Helou was also a successful businessman and founded two French language newspapers, L'Eclair du Nord and Le Jour. In 1936, he made his first foray into politics, when he joined with Pierre Gemayel and three others in launching the Kataeb (Phalangist) Party. Differences with Gemayel later led Helou to quit the party, however.

Helou's first governmental appointment was as Ambassador to the Vatican in 1947. He later served in the Cabinet as Minister of Justice and Health (1954-1955) and as Minister of Education (1964). A protégé of Fuad Chehab, he was chosen by the National Assembly to succeed him as President in 1964.

The impressive economic growth that characterized Helou's presidency was marred by the Intra Bank crisis of 1966 and Lebanon's increasing inability to avoid involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Six Day War of 1967, in which Israel won a decisive victory over its Arab neighbours, strained sectarian relations in Lebanon. Many Muslims wanted Lebanon to join the Arab war effort, while many Christians wished to eschew participation. Helou managed to keep Lebanon from entanglement, apart from a brief air strike, but found it impossible to put the lid on the tensions that had been raised. Parliamentary elections in 1968 revealed an increasing polarization in the country, with two major coalitions, one pro-Arab and led by Rashid Karami and the other pro-Western and led jointly by former President Camille Chamoun, Pierre Gemayel, and Raymond Eddé, both made major gains and won 30 of the 99 seats each.

In addition, government authority was challenged by the presence of armed Palestinian guerrillas in the south of the country, and clashes between the Lebanese army and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) became increasingly frequent. For a long time, Helou resisted their demands, but in 1969, after failing to end the rebellion militarily, he finally gave in and signed^{[citation needed]} the Cairo Agreement, which permitted Palestinian guerrillas to launch raids into Israel from bases inside Lebanon, hoping that they would confine their operations to cross-border attacks against Israel and would stop challenging the Lebanese government. As it turned out, the clashes only intensified.

In 1970, Helou endorsed Elias Sarkis as his chosen successor, but he lost the election in the National Assembly by one vote to Suleiman Frangieh. Unlike other former Presidents, who remained politically active after retirement, Helou faded from the scene. He was involved in a philanthropic venture, founding a number of restaurants to provide free hot meals to elderly people.

Helou died of a heart attack on January 7, 2001. He was 87.