Michel Debré | |
|---|---|
 Debré in 1960 | |
| Prime Minister of France | |
| In office 8 January 1959 – 14 April 1962 | |
| President | Charles de Gaulle |
| Preceded by | Charles de Gaulle |
| Succeeded by | Georges Pompidou |
| Minister of Defence | |
| In office 22 June 1969 – 5 April 1973 | |
| Prime Minister | Jacques Chaban-Delmas Pierre Messmer |
| Preceded by | Pierre Messmer |
| Succeeded by | Robert Galley |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 31 May 1968 – 16 June 1969 | |
| Prime Minister | Georges Pompidou Maurice Couve de Murville |
| Preceded by | Maurice Couve de Murville |
| Succeeded by | Maurice Schumann |
| Minister of the Economy and Finance | |
| In office 8 January 1966 – 31 May 1968 | |
| Prime Minister | Georges Pompidou |
| Preceded by | Valéry Giscard d'Estaing |
| Succeeded by | Maurice Couve de Murville |
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| In office 26 November 1962 – 14 May 1988 | |
| Constituency | Réunion |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Michel Jean-Pierre Debré (1912-01-15)15 January 1912 |
| Died | 2 August 1996(1996-08-02) (aged 84) Montlouis-sur-Loire,Indre-et-Loire, France |
| Political party | Radical-Socialist Party (1934–1947) Rally of the French People (1947–1955) Union for the New Republic (1958–1968) Union of Democrats for the Republic (1968–1976) Rally for the Republic (1976–1988) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Vincent (b. 1939) François (b. 1942) Bernard (b. 1944) Jean-Louis (b. 1944) |
| Alma mater | École Libre des Sciences Politiques University of Paris |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Awards |  Legion of Honour War Cross |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Government profile site |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  French Third Republic (1939-1940)Vichy France (1940-1942) Free France (1943-1945) |
| Branch/service |  French Army |
| Years of service | 1939–1945 |
| Rank | Commissioner of the Republic Lieutenant |
| Unit | FrenchCavalry |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Michel Jean-Pierre Debré[1] (French:[miʃɛldəbʁe]; 15 January 1912 – 2 August 1996) was the first Prime Minister of theFrench Fifth Republic. He is considered the "father" of the currentConstitution of France. He served under PresidentCharles de Gaulle from 1959 to 1962. In terms of political personality, Debré was intense and immovable and had a tendency for rhetorical extremism.[2]
Debré was born in Paris, the son of Jeanne-Marguerite (Debat-Ponsan) andRobert Debré, a well-known professor of medicine, who is today considered by many to be the founder of modernpediatrics. His maternal grandfather was academic painterÉdouard Debat-Ponsan. Debré's father was Jewish, and his grandfather was a rabbi.[3][4] Debré himself wasRoman Catholic.[1][3]
He studied at theLycée Montaigne and then at theLycée Louis-le-Grand, obtained a diploma from theÉcole Libre des Sciences Politiques, and a PhD inLaw from theUniversity of Paris. He then became a Professor of Law at theUniversity of Paris. He also joined theÉcole des Officiers de Réserve de la Cavalerie (Reserve Cavalry-Officers School) inSaumur. In 1934, at the age of twenty-two, Debré passed the entrance exam and became a member of theConseil d'État. In 1938, he joined the staff of the Economy MinisterPaul Reynaud.
In 1939, at the beginning of theSecond World War, Debré was enlisted as a cavalry officer. He was taken prisoner inArtenay in June 1940 during theBattle of France but managed to escape in September. He returned to the Conseil d'État, now under the administration of theVichy regime and was sworn in by MarshalPhilippe Pétain. In 1942, he was promoted tomaître des requêtes by the Minister of Justice. After the German invasion of the free zone in November 1942, Debré's politicalPétainism disappeared, and in February 1943, he became involved in theFrench Resistance by joining the networkCeux de la Résistance (CDLR).
During the summer of 1943, GeneralCharles de Gaulle gave Debré the task of making a list ofprefects who would replace those of the Vichy regime after the Liberation. In August 1944, de Gaulle made himCommissaire de la République forAngers, and in 1945, theProvisional Government charged him with the task of reforming theFrench Civil Service. While doing so, he created theÉcole nationale d'administration, a decision rooted in ideas formulated byJean Zay before the war.
Under theFourth Republic, Debré at first supported theDemocratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance but defected to theRadical-Socialist Party—allegedly on the advice of de Gaulle, who reportedly told him and several other politicians, includingJacques Chaban-Delmas, "Allez au parti radical. C'est là que vous trouverez les derniers vestiges du sens de l'Etat (Go to the Radical Party. It's there that you will find the last vestiges of the meaning of the state)".[5]
Debré then joined theRally of the French People and was elected senator ofIndre-et-Loire, a position that he held from 1948 to 1958. In 1957, he foundedLe Courrier de la colère, a newspaper that fiercely defendedFrench Algeria and called for the return to power of de Gaulle. In the 2 December 1957 issue, Debré wrote:
As long as Algeria is French land, as long as the law of Algeria is French, the battle for Algeria is a legal battle, the insurgency for Algeria is a legal insurgency.
The explicit appeal to the insurgency led the socialist politicianAlain Savary to write, "In the case of theOAS insurgency, the soldiers are not the culprit; the culprit is Debré".[6]
Michel Debré had four sons:Vincent Debré (1939–), businessman;François Debré (1942–2020), journalist;Bernard Debré (1944–2020),urologist and politician; and Bernard's fraternal twin,Jean-Louis Debré (1944–2025), politician. SeeDebré family.
Michel Debré became theGarde des Sceaux and Minister of Justice in the cabinet of General de Gaulle on 1 June 1958.[7] He played an important role in drafting theConstitution of the Fifth Republic, and on its acceptance he took up the new position ofPrime Minister of France, which he held from 8 January 1959[8] to 1962.
After the1962 Évian Accords referendum that ended theAlgerian War and gave self-determination to Algeria was approved by a nearly ten-to-one margin, de Gaulle replaced Debré withGeorges Pompidou. In November, during the parliamentary elections that followed the dissolution of theNational Assembly, Debré tried to be elected asdeputy forIndre-et-Loire. Defeated, in March 1963 he decided to go toRéunion, an island that he had visited for less than 24 hours on 10 July 1959, on a trip with President de Gaulle. The choice reflects Debré's fear that what remained of theFrench colonial empires would follow the path trodden by Algeria: that of independence for which he was not sympathetic.
Debré wanted to take action against theCommunist Party of Réunion, which had been founded byPaul Vergès a few years earlier. The movement soughtself-determination for the island and the removal of its position as anoverseas department and had stageddemonstrations on the island a few days earlier. He also noted that the invalidation of Gabriel Macé's election as Mayor ofSaint-Denis rendered the post open to the opposition and so he took the decision to contest the election.
Debré returned to the government in 1966 as Economy and Finance Minister. After theMay 1968 crisis, he became Foreign Minister and, one year later, served as Defence Minister under PresidentGeorges Pompidou. In that role, he became a hated figure of the left because of his determination to expropriate the land of 107 peasant farmers and shepherds on theLarzac plateau to extend an existing military base. The resultingcivil disobedience campaign was ultimately victorious.
Considered as a guardian of the Gaullist orthodoxy, Debré was marginalised after the election ofValéry Giscard d'Estaing as President of France in 1974, whose foreign policy Debré criticised with virulence. In 1979, Debré took a major part in theRally for the Republic (RPR) campaign against European federalism and was elected member of theEuropean Parliament to defend the principle of the Europe of nations. However, Debré later accusedJacques Chirac, and the RPR moderated their speech. Debré was a dissident candidate in the1981 presidential election but obtained only 1.6% of votes.
Michel Debré arrived on the island ofRéunion in April 1963 and succeeded in being electedDéputé for Saint-Denis on 6 May despite local opposition to theordonnance Debré, a law that he had introduced in 1960 to allow civil servants in theoverseas departments and territories of France to be recalled toMetropolitan France if they were suspected of disturbing public order.[9] Supported by those who rejected autonomy, he immediately became the leader of the local right wing. That state of affairs would be challenged by Pierre Lagourgue during the next decade.
To justify the departmentalization of the island that occurred in 1946 and to preserve its inhabitants from the temptation of independence, Debré implemented aneconomic development policy and opened the island's firstfamily planning center. He personally fought to get Paris to create a second secondary school on the south of the island, inLe Tampon, when at the time there was only one, the Lycée Leconte-de-Lisle, which catered for many thousands of inhabitants.[citation needed]
From 1968 to 1982, Debré forcibly relocated over 2,000 children from Réunion to France, to work as free labour inCreuse. The plight of those children, known asthe Children of Creuse, was brought to light in 2002 when the Réunion exile Jean-Jacques Martial made a legal complaint against Debré, who had organised the controversial displacement, for "kidnapping of a minor, roundup and deportation".[10] In 2005, a similar case was brought against the French Government by the Association of Réunion of Creuse.[11]
Governmental functions
Electoral mandates
European Parliament
Senate of France
National Assembly
General Council
Municipal Council
Changes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Justice 1958–1959 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of France 1959–1962 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Economy and Finance 1966–1968 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1966–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas Minister of the Armies | Minister of National Defence 1969–1973 | Succeeded by |
