Edgar Faure | |
|---|---|
 Edgar Faure in 1955 | |
| Prime Minister of France | |
| In office 23 February 1955 – 1 February 1956 | |
| President | René Coty |
| Preceded by | Pierre Mendès France |
| Succeeded by | Guy Mollet |
| In office 20 January 1952 – 8 March 1952 | |
| President | Vincent Auriol |
| Preceded by | René Pleven |
| Succeeded by | Antoine Pinay |
| President of the National Assembly | |
| In office 2 April 1973 – 2 April 1978 | |
| Preceded by | Achille Peretti |
| Succeeded by | Jacques Chaban-Delmas |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edgar Jean Faure 18 August 1908 Béziers, France |
| Died | 30 March 1988(1988-03-30) (aged 79) 7th arrondissement of Paris, France |
| Political party | Radical Party (1929–1956; 1958–1965; 1977–1988) |
| Other political affiliations | Union for the New Republic (1965–1967) Union of Democrats for the Republic (1967–1977) Rally for the Republic (1977) |
| Spouse | Lucie Meyer |
Edgar Jean Faure (French:[ɛdɡaʁʒɑ̃fɔʁ]ⓘ; 18 August 1908 – 30 March 1988) was a Frenchpolitician,lawyer,essayist,historian andmemoirist who served asPrime Minister of France in 1952 and again between 1955 and 1956.[1][2] Prior to his election to theNational Assembly forJura under theFourth Republic in1946, he was a member of theFrench Committee of National Liberation (CFLN) inAlgiers (1943–1944). ARadical, Faure was married to writerLucie Meyer. In 1978, he was elected to theAcadémie Française.
Faure was born inBéziers,Hérault, to a French Army doctor. He was nearsighted yet a brilliant student since his youth, earning abaccalauréat at 15, as well as a law degree at 19 in Paris.[1][2] At 21 years of age he became a member of thebar association, the youngest lawyer in France to do so at the time. While living in Paris, he became active inThird Republic politics; he joined theRadical Party in 1929.
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During theGerman occupation ofWorld War II, he joined theFrench Resistance in theMaquis. In 1942, he fled toCharles de Gaulle's headquarters inAlgiers, where he was made head of the Provisional Government of the Republic'slegislative department. At the end of the war, he served as French counsel for the prosecution at theNuremberg Trials.[3]
In 1946, he was elected to theFrench Parliament as a Radical.[2] While the popularity of his party declined to less than 10% of the total vote, none of the other parties was able to gain a clear majority. Therefore, early on, his party often played a disproportionately important role in the formation of governments. He thus 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'sleft, underPierre Mendès France.[citation needed]
Faure's views changed during theFourth Republic; after initial opposition to theFifth Republic (he voted against presidential election by universal suffrage in the1962 referendum), he eventually became aGaullist. TheGaullist Party, theUnion for the New Republic, sent him on an unofficial mission to thePeople'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 the1974 presidential election, in which he supportedValéry 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, "it is not the weathercock which turns; it is the wind!"
He was a member of theNational Assembly for theJura department from 1946 to 1958, as well as for theDoubs department from 1967 to 1980. He presided over the National Assembly from 1973 to 1978. He sought another term as President of the 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 theAcadémie Française.
On the regional, departmental and local levels, Edgar Faure was Mayor ofPort-Lesney, Jura from 1947 to 1971 and again from 1983 to 1988, as well as Mayor ofPontarlier between 1971 and 1977; he served as President of the General Council of the Jura department from 1949 to 1967, then member of the General Council of the Doubs from 1967 to 1979, President of the Regional Council ofFranche-Comté (1974–1981, 1982–1988). He played a key role during the creation and first years of theAssembly of European Regions (AER), becoming his first president in 1985 and staying in that position until 1988.[citation needed]
In 1931, Faure married writerLucie Meyer, a daughter of a silk merchant. They spent their one-month-long honeymoon in theSoviet Union.[1]
In his 1997 book, The Zubial, authorAlexandre Jardin recounts how Faure would spend time with his father,Pascal Jardin.
Governmental functions
Electoral mandates
He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting aworld constitution.[4][5] As a result, for the first time in human history, aWorld Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt aConstitution for the Federation of Earth.[6]
He published the following books:
Changes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of the Budget 1950–1951 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Justice 1951–1952 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of France 1952 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 1952 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 1953–1955 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by — | Minister of Planning 1954–1955 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1955 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of France 1955–1956 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ad interimMinister of the Interior 1955–1956 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Planning 1958 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Agriculture 1966–1968 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of National Education 1968–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by — | Minister of State,Minister of Social Affairs 1972–1973 | Succeeded by — |
| Preceded by | President of the National Assembly 1973–1978 | Succeeded by |
