Jacobus Johannes Fouché (1898–1980) served as the second President of South Africa from 1968 to 1975.

Born in the Boer

Boer

Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...

 republic of the Orange Free State

Orange Free State

The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...

 (which became a British colony in 1902 and a province of the Union of South Africa

Union of South Africa

The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...

 in 1910), Fouché was a successful farmer. A staunch republican, he was a member of the National Party

National Party (South Africa)

The National Party is a former political party in South Africa. Founded in 1914, it was the governing party of the country from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats. Its policies included apartheid, the establishment of a...

 for many years.

Fouché served as Administrator of the Orange Free State from 1950 to 1959, and was then promoted to the Cabinet, where he served as Minister of Defence from 1959 to 1966 and as Minister of Agricultural Technical Services and Water Affairs from 1966 to 1968. He was elected State President in place of Dr Eben Dönges

T.E. Donges

Theophilus Ebenhaezer Dönges was a South African politician who was elected State President of South Africa but died before he could take office, aged 69....

(who had been elected, but died before he could take office), and served as ceremonial head of state from 1968 to 1975. He was the only State President to serve his full seven-year term of office.

Fouché married Letta Rhoda ('Lettie') McDonald. They had a son, Dr. Jacobus Johannes ('Bux') Fouché, who married Cornelia Jacoba Redelinghuys ('Coreen') Louw. Bux Fouché served as ambassador in The Hague, Netherlands from 1964 – 1967. He died on 2 October 1982, leaving behind his wife and two sons, Jacobus Johannes ('Jimmy') Fouché and Jacobus Adriaan Louw ('Koos') Fouché.

Jacobus Johannes ('Jimmy') Fouché married Jacoba Elizabeth de Villiers ('Elsabé') Loubser, they have three children: Herculina Johanna ('Hanneline') Fouché, Cornelia Jacoba ('Coreen') Fouché and Jacobus Johannes ('Bux') Fouché. Jacobus Adriaan Louw ('Koos') Fouché married Edé Janse van Rensburg and have two children: Jeanne Fouché and Jacobus Johannes ('James') Fouché.