Edgar Faure

Edgar Faure
President of French National Assembly
In office
2 April 1973 – 2 April 1978
Preceded by Achille Peretti
Succeeded by Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Prime Minister of France
In office
20 January 1952 – 8 March 1952
President Vincent Auriol
Preceded by René Pleven
Succeeded by Antoine Pinay
In office
23 February 1955 – 1 February 1956
President René Coty
Preceded by Pierre Mendès-France
Succeeded by Guy Mollet
Personal details
Born 18 August 1908
Béziers
Died 30 March 1988 (aged 79)
Paris
Political party Radical

Edgar Faure (French: [ɛdɡaʁ foʁ]; 1908–1988) was a French politician, essayist, historian, and memoirist.

Career

Faure was born in Béziers, Languedoc-Roussillon. He trained as a lawyer in Paris and became a member of the Bar at 21, the youngest lawyer in France to do so at the time. While living in Paris, he became active in Third Republic politics, and joined the Radical Party.

During the German occupation of World War II, he joined the French Resistance in the Maquis, and in 1942 fled to Charles de Gaulle's headquarters in Algiers, where he was made head of the Provisional Government of the Republic's legislative department. At the end of the war he served as French counsel for the prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials.

In 1946, he was elected to the French Parliament as a Radical. While the popularity of his party declined to less than 10 per cent of the total vote, none of the other parties was able to gain a clear majority. As such, early on, Faure’s party often played a disproportionately important role in the formation of French governments. In this, he led the cabinet in 1952 and from 1955 to 1956. Faure was a leader of the more conservative wing of the party, opposing the party's left under Pierre Mendès-France.

Faure's views changed during the Fourth Republic, and after being initially opposed to the Fifth Republic (he voted against presidential election by universal suffrage in the 1962 referendum), he eventually became a Gaullist. De Gaulle's party, the Union for the New Republic, sent him on an unofficial mission to the People's Republic of China in 1963. In government he served in successive ministries: Agriculture (1966–1968), National Education (1968–1969, where he was responsible for pushing through reform of the universities), and Social Affairs (1972–1973). He declined to be a candidate at the 1974 presidential election, and supported Valéry Giscard d'Estaing against the Gaullist candidate Jacques Chaban-Delmas.

He had the reputation of a careerist and the nickname of "weathercock". He replied with humour that "it is not the weathercock which turns; it is the wind!".

He was a member of the National Assembly for the département of Jura from 1946 to 1958, and for the départment of Doubs from 1967 to 1980. He presided over the French National Assembly from 1973 to 1978. He sought another term as Assembly President in 1978 but was defeated by Chaban-Delmas. Faure was a Senator from 1959 to 1967 for Jura, and again in 1980 for Doubs. In 1978 he became a Member of the Académie française.

On the regional, departmental and local levels, Edgar Faure was mayor of Port-Lesney (Jura) from 1947 to 1971, and from 1983 to 1988, and mayor of Pontarlier between 1971 and 1977; he served as president of the General Council of the Jura départment from 1949 to 1967, then member of the General Council of the Doubs from 1967 to 1979, president of the council of the Franche-Comté région (1974–1981, 1982–1988).

Edgar Faure was buried at Cimetière de Passy, Paris.

Political career

Governmental functions

President of the Council (Prime minister) : January–February 1952 / February–December 1955

Secretary of State for Finances : 1949–1950

Minister of Budget : 1950–1951

Minister of Justice : 1951–1952

Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs : 1953–1955

Minister of Foreign Affairs : January–February 1955

Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Planning : May–June 1958

Minister of Agriculture : 1966–1968

Minister of National Education : 1968–1969

Minister of State, Minister of Social Affairs : 1972–1973

Electoral mandates

President of the National Assembly of France : 1973–1978

Member of the National Assembly of France for Doubs : Elected in 1967, 1968, but he remains minister / 1973–1980

Member of the National Assembly of France for Jura : 1946–1958

Senator of the Jura (departement) : 1959–1966 (Became minister in 1966)

Senator of the Doubs : 1980–1988 (He died in 1988)

President of the Regional Council of Franche-Comté : 1974–1981 / 1982–1988 (He died in 1988)

Mayor of Port-Lesney : 1947–1970 / 1983–1988 (He died in 1988)

Mayor of Pontarlier : 1971–1977

President of the General council of the Jura : 1949–1967

General councillor of the Jura (departement) : 1967–1979

Works

He published the following books:

Governments

First ministry (20 January – 8 March 1952)

Second ministry (23 February 1955 – 1 February 1956)

Changes

Political offices
Preceded by
Charles Spinasse		 Minister of Budget
1950–1951 		Succeeded by
Pierre Courant
Preceded by
René Mayer		 Minister of Justice
1951–1952 		Succeeded by
Léon Martinaud-Deplat
Preceded by
René Pleven		 Prime Minister of France
1952 		Succeeded by
Antoine Pinay
Preceded by
René Mayer		 Minister of Finance
1952 		Succeeded by
Antoine Pinay
Preceded by
Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury		 Minister of Finance
1953–1955 		Succeeded by
Robert Buron
Preceded by
—		 Minister of Planning
1954–1955 		Succeeded by
Robert Buron
Preceded by
Pierre Mendès-France		 Minister of Foreign Affairs
1955 		Succeeded by
Antoine Pinay
Preceded by
Pierre Mendès-France		 Prime Minister of France
1955–1956 		Succeeded by
Guy Mollet
Preceded by
Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury		 interim Minister of the Interior
1955–1956 		Succeeded by
Jean Gilbert-Jules
Preceded by
Pierre Pflimlin		 Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs, and Planning
1958 		Succeeded by
Antoine Pinay
Preceded by
Edgard Pisani		 Minister of Agriculture
1966–1968 		Succeeded by
Robert Boulin
Preceded by
François-Xavier Ortoli		 Minister of National Education
1968–1969 		Succeeded by
Olivier Guichard
Preceded by
—		 Minister of Social Affairs
1972–1973 		Succeeded by
—
Preceded by
Achille Peretti		 President of the National Assembly
1973–1978 		Succeeded by
Jacques Chaban-Delmas

References