Félix Gaillard
Encyclopedia
Félix Gaillard d'Aimé was a French Radical politician who served as Prime Minister
under the Fourth Republic
from 1957 to 1958. He was the youngest head of a French government since Napoleon.
and served on its Finance committee. As a member of the Radical Party
, he was elected deputy of Charente
département in 1946. During the Fourth Republic, he held a number of governmental offices, notably as Minister of Economy and Finance in 1957.
, his term of office lasted only a few months. Gaillard was defeated by the French National Assembly
, in March 1958, after the bombing of Sakiet-Sidi-Youssef, a Tunisian village.
.
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
under the Fourth Republic
French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
from 1957 to 1958. He was the youngest head of a French government since Napoleon.
Career
A senior civil servant in the Inland Revenue Service, Gaillard joined the ResistanceFrench Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
and served on its Finance committee. As a member of the Radical Party
Radical Party
-France:*Radical Party *Radical Party of the Left -Italy:*Radical Party *Radical Party *Italian Radicals *Radicals of the Left -Luxembourg:*Radical Party...
, he was elected deputy of Charente
Charente
Charente is a department in southwestern France, in the Poitou-Charentes region, named after the Charente River, the most important river in the department, and also the river beside which the department's two largest towns, Angoulême and Cognac, are sited.-History:Charente is one of the original...
département in 1946. During the Fourth Republic, he held a number of governmental offices, notably as Minister of Economy and Finance in 1957.
Prime minister
He became Prime Minister in 1957, but, not unusually for the French Fourth RepublicFrench Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...
, his term of office lasted only a few months. Gaillard was defeated by the French National Assembly
French National Assembly
The French National Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of France under the Fifth Republic. The upper house is the Senate ....
, in March 1958, after the bombing of Sakiet-Sidi-Youssef, a Tunisian village.
Later political career
President of the Radical Party from 1958 to 1961, he advocated an alliance of the center-left and the center-right parties. He is representative of a generation of young politicians which the political rise was stopped by the advent of the Fifth RepublicFrench Fifth Republic
The Fifth Republic is the fifth and current republican constitution of France, introduced on 4 October 1958. The Fifth Republic emerged from the collapse of the French Fourth Republic, replacing the prior parliamentary government with a semi-presidential system...
.
Gaillard's Ministry, 6 November 1957 – 14 May 1958
- Félix Gaillard – President of the Council
- Christian PineauChristian PineauChristian Pineau was a noted French Resistance fighter.He was born in Chaumont-en-Bassigny, Haute-Marne, France and died in Paris.His father-in-law was the writer Jean Giraudoux, who was married to Pineau's mother...
– Minister of Foreign Affairs - Jacques Chaban-DelmasJacques Chaban-DelmasJacques Chaban-Delmas was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. In addition, for almost half a century, he was Mayor of Bordeaux and a deputy for the Gironde département....
– Minister of National Defense and Armed Forces - Maurice Bourgès-MaunouryMaurice Bourgès-MaunouryMaurice Jean Marie Bourgès-Maunoury was a French Radical politician who served as Prime Minister in the Fourth Republic during 1957.He is famous, especially, for fulfilling prominent ministerial role in the government during the Suez Crisis....
– Minister of the Interior - Pierre PflimlinPierre PflimlinPierre Eugène Jean Pflimlin was a French Christian democratic politician who served as the penultimate Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic for a few weeks in 1958, before being replaced by Charles de Gaulle during the crisis of that year.-Life:...
– Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs, and Planning - Paul Ribeyre – Minister of Commerce and Industry
- Paul BaconPaul BaconPaul Bacon was a French politician.During World War 2, Bacon was active in the French Resistance. He was a member of Georges Bidault's National Liberation Movement, and distributed a manifesto about trade unionism in December 1940. Bacon was arrested by the Gestapo in 1943.After the war, Bacon...
– Minister of Labour and Social Security - Robert LecourtRobert LecourtRobert Lecourt was a French politician and lawyer, judge and the fourth President of the European Court of Justice.Lecourt was born in Pavilly, Seine-Maritime...
– Minister of Justice - René BillèresRené BillèresRené Billères was a French politician.Billères served as a Radical-Socialist deputy for the Hautes-Pyrénées from 1946 till 1973 and Senator for the same department from 1973 till 1983...
– Minister of National Education, Youth, and Sports - Antoine Quinson – Minister of Veterans and War Victims
- Roland Boscary-Monsservin – Minister of Agriculture
- Gérard Jaquet – Minister of Overseas France
- Édouard Bonnefous – Minister of Public Works, Transport, and Tourism
- Félix Houphouët-BoignyFélix Houphouët-BoignyFélix Houphouët-Boigny , affectionately called Papa Houphouët or Le Vieux, was the first President of Côte d'Ivoire. Originally a village chief, he worked as a doctor, an administrator of a plantation, and a union leader, before being elected to the French Parliament and serving in a number of...
– Minister of Public Health and Population - Pierre Garet – Minister of Reconstruction and Housing
- Max Lejeune – Minister for the Sahara