List of Presidents of France

France

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Contents 1 First French Republic (1792-1804) 2 Second French Republic (1848-1852) 2.1 President of the Provisional Government of the Republic 2.2 President of the National Constituent Assembly 2.3 Chairman of the Executive Commission 2.4 President of the National Constituent Assembly 2.5 Chief of the Executive Power 2.6 President 3 Third French Republic (1870-1940) 3.1 President of the Government of National Defense 3.2 Presidents of the National Constituent Assembly 3.3 Chief of the Executive Power 3.4 Presidents 3.5 Acting Presidents 4 French State (1940-1944) 4.1 Chief of State 5 Provisional Government of the French Republic (1944-1947) 5.1 Chairmen of the Provisional Government 6 Fourth French Republic (1947-1958) 6.1 Presidents 7 Fifth French Republic (1958-Present) 7.1 Presidents 8 See also 9 References

[edit] First French Republic (1792-1804)

• National Convention (20 September 1792 – 2 November 1795), with Maximilien Robespierre as leading member of the Convention's Committee of Public Safety (27 July 1793 - 27 July 1794)
• Directory (2 November 1795 – 10 November 1799), with Paul Barras as leading member of the Directory
• Consulate (10 November 1799 – 18 May 1804), with Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul

[edit] Second French Republic (1848-1852)

[edit] President of the Provisional Government of the Republic

• Jacques Charles Dupont de l'Eure (24 February 1848 - 9 May 1848)

[edit] President of the National Constituent Assembly

• Philippe Joseph Benjamin Buchez (9 May 1848 - 10 May 1848)

[edit] Chairman of the Executive Commission

• François Arago (11 May 1848 - 24 June 1848)

[edit] President of the National Constituent Assembly

• Antonie Marie Jules Sénard (24 June 1848 - 28 June 1848)

[edit] Chief of the Executive Power

• Louis Eugène Cavaignac (28 June 1848 - 20 December 1848)

[edit] President

#	Picture	Name	Term start	Term end	Political Party
1		Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte[1]	20 December 1848	2 December 1852	Bonapartist
			Elected first President of the French Republic, in the 1848 election against Louis Eugène Cavaignac. He provoked the French coup of 1851, and proclaimed himself Emperor the following year.

[edit] Third French Republic (1870-1940)

[edit] President of the Government of National Defense

• Louis Jules Trochu (4 September 1870 - 13 February 1871)

[edit] Presidents of the National Constituent Assembly

• Denis Emmanuel, comte Benoist d'Azy (acting) (13 February 1871 - 16 February 1871)
• Jules Grévy (16 February 1871 - 17 February 1871)

[edit] Chief of the Executive Power

• Adolphe Thiers (17 February 1871-30 August 1871) (became President on 31 August)

[edit] Presidents

#	Picture	Name	Term start	Term end	Political Party
2		Adolphe Thiers[2]	31 August 1871	24 May 1873	Opportunist Republican
			Initially a moderate monarchist, named President following the adoption of the Rivet law. He became a Republican during his term, and resigned in the face of hostility from the Assemblée nationale, largely in favour of a return to monarchy.
3		Patrice de Mac-Mahon[3]	24 May 1873	30 January 1879	Legitimist
			A Marshal of France, he was the only monarchist President of the Third Republic. He resigned shortly after the Republican victory in the 1877 legislative elections, following his decision to dissolve the Chamber of Deputies. During his term, in 1875, the Fundamental Laws that served as the Constitution of the Third Republic were passed, and he therefore became the first President under the constitutional settlement that would last until 1940.
4		Jules Grévy[4]	30 January 1879	2 December 1887	Opportunist Republican
			The first President to complete a full term, he was eaily re-elected in December 1885. He was nonetheless forced to resign, following an honours scandal in which his son-in-law was implicated.
5		Marie François Sadi Carnot[5]	3 December 1887	25 June 1894	Opportunist Republican
			His term was marked by boulangist unrest and the Panama scandals, and by diplomacy with Russia. Assassinated (stabbed) by Sante Geronimo Caserio a few months before the end of his mandate, he is interred at the Panthéon, Paris.
6		Jean Casimir-Perier[6]	27 June 1894	16 January 1895	Opportunist Republican
			Perier's was the shortest Presidential term: he resigned after six months and 20 days.
7		Félix Faure[7]	17 January 1895	16 February 1899	Opportunist Republican
			Pursued colonial expansion and ties with Russia. President during the Dreyfus Affair. Four years into his term he died of apoplexy at the Élysée Palace, allegedly in flagrante.
8		Émile Loubet[8]	18 February 1899	18 February 1906	Opportunist Republican
			During his seven-year term, the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State was adopted, and only four Presidents of the Council succeeded to the Hôtel Matignon. He did not seek re-election at the end of his term.
9		Armand Fallières[9]	18 February 1906	18 February 1913	ARD-PRD
			President during the Agadir Crisis, when French troops first occupied Morocco. He was a party to the Triple Entente, which he strengthened by diplomacy. Like his predecessor, he did not seek re-election.
10		Raymond Poincaré[10]	18 February 1913	18 February 1920	PRD-ARD
			President during World War I. He subsequently served as President of the Council 1922–1924 and 1926–1929.
11		Paul Deschanel[11]	18 February 1920	21 September 1920	ARD-PRDS
			An intellectual elected to the Académie française, he overcame the popular Georges Clemenceau, to general surprise, in the January 1920 election. He resigned after eight months due to mental health problems.
12		Alexandre Millerand[12]	23 September 1920	11 June 1924	Independent
			An "Independent Socialist" increasingly drawn to the right wing, he resigned after four years following the victory of the Cartel des Gauches in the 1924 legislative elections.
13		Gaston Doumergue[13]	13 June 1924	13 June 1931	Radical
			The first Protestant President, he took a firm political stance against Germany and its resurgent nationalism. His seven-year term was marked by ministerial discontinuity.
14		Paul Doumer[14]	13 June 1931	7 May 1932	Radical
			Elected in the second round of the 1931 election, having displaced the pacifist Aristide Briand. Assassinated (shot) by the mentally unstable Paul Gorguloff.
15		Albert Lebrun[15]	10 May 1932	11 July 1940	AD
			Re-elected in 1939, his second term was interrupted de facto by the rise to power of Marshal Philippe Pétain.

[edit] Acting Presidents

Under the Third Republic, the President of the Council served as Acting President whenever the office of President was vacant.

• Jules Armand Dufaure (30 January 1879)
• Maurice Rouvier (2 December - 3 December 1887)
• Charles Dupuy (25 June - 27 June 1894, 16 January - 17 January 1895 and 16 February - 18 February 1899)
• Alexandre Millerand (21 September - 23 September 1920)
• Frédéric François-Marsal (11 June - 13 June 1924)
• André Tardieu (7 May - 10 May 1932)

The office of President of the French Republic did not exist from 1940 until 1947.

[edit] French State (1940-1944)

[edit] Chief of State

• Marshal Philippe Pétain (11 July 1940 - 20 August 1944)

[edit] Provisional Government of the French Republic (1944-1947)

[edit] Chairmen of the Provisional Government

• Charles de Gaulle (3 July 1944 - 26 January 1946)
• Félix Gouin (26 January - 24 June 1946)
• Georges Bidault (24 June - 28 November 1946)
• Vincent Auriol (interim) (28 November - 16 December 1946)
• Léon Blum (16 December 1946 - 16 January 1947)

[edit] Fourth French Republic (1947-1958)

[edit] Presidents

#	Picture	Name	Term start	Term end	Political Party
16		Vincent Auriol[16]	16 January 1947	16 January 1954	French Section of the Workers' International
			First President of the Fourth Republic, his term was marked by the First Indochina War.
17		René Coty[17]	16 January 1954	8 January 1959	National Centre of Independents and Peasants
			Presidency marked by the Algerian War; appealed to Charles de Gaulle to resolve the May 1958 crisis. Following the promulgation of the Fifth Republic, he resigned after five years as President, giving way to de Gaulle.

[edit] Fifth French Republic (1958-Present)

[edit] Presidents

#	Picture	Name	Term of Office; Electoral mandates		Political Party
18		Charles de Gaulle[18]	8 January 1959	28 April 1969	Union for the New Republic
			1958, 1965
			President of the Provisional Government 1944–1946. Appointed President of the Council by René Coty in May 1958, to resolve the crisis of the Algerian War. He adopted a new Constitution, thus founding the Fifth Republic. Easily elected President in the 1958 election by electoral college, he took office the following month; he was re-elected by universal suffrage in the 1965 election. In 1966, he withdrew France from NATO integrated military command, and expelled the American bases on French soil. Having refused to step down during the crisis of May 1968, he finally resigned following the failure of the 1969 referendum on regionalisation.
—		Alain Poher[19] (interim)	28 April 1969	20 June 1969	Democratic Centre
			As President of the Senate, he served as Interim President of the Republic following Charles de Gaulle's resignation. Defeated in the second round of the 1969 election by Georges Pompidou.
19		Georges Pompidou[20]	20 June 1969	2 April 1974	Union of Democrats for the Republic
			1969
			Prime Minister under Charles de Gaulle 1962–1968. Elected President in the 1969 election against the centrist Alain Poher. Favoured European integration. Supported economic modernisation and industrialisation. Faced the 1973 oil crisis. Died in office of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, two years before the end of his mandate.
—		Alain Poher[19] (interim)	2 April 1974	27 May 1974	Democratic Centre
			As President of the Senate, he again served as Interim President of the Republic following the death of Georges Pompidou. Did not stand in the 1974 election.
20		Valéry Giscard d'Estaing[21]	27 May 1974	21 May 1981	Independent Republicans (1974–1977) Union for French Democracy-Republican Party (1977–1981)
			1974
			Founder of the FNRI and later the UDF in his efforts to unify the centre-right, he served in several Gaullist governments. Narrowly elected in the 1974 election, he instigated numerous reforms, including the lowering of the age of civil majority from 21 to 18, and the legalisation of abortion. He soon faced a global economic crisis and rising unemployment. Although the polls initially gave him a lead, he was beaten in the 1981 election by François Mitterrand, partly due to the disunion within the right wing.
21		François Mitterrand[22]	21 May 1981	17 May 1995	Socialist Party
			1981, 1988
			Candidate of a united left-wing ticket in the 1965 election, he founded the Socialist Party in 1971. Having narrowly lost the 1974 election, he was finally elected in the 1981 election. He instigated several reforms (abolition of the death penalty, a fifth week of paid leave for employees). After the right-wing victory in the 1986 legislative elections, he named Jacques Chirac Prime Minister, thus beginning the first cohabitation. Re-elected in the 1988 election against Chirac, he was again forced to cohabit with Édouard Balladur following the 1993 legislative elections. He retired at the 1995 election. He was the first President elected twice by universal suffrage, he remains the only left-wing President of the Fifth Republic, and his Presidential tenure was the longest of the Fifth Republic.
22		Jacques Chirac[23]	17 May 1995	16 May 2007	Rally for the Republic (1995–2002) Union for a Popular Movement (2002–2007)
			1995, 2002
			Prime Minister 1974–1976; on resignation, founded the RPR. Eliminated in the first round of the 1981 election, he again served as Prime Minister 1986–1988. Beaten in the 1988 election, he was elected in the 1995 election. He engaged in social reforms to counter "social fracture". In 1997, he dissolved the Assemblée nationale; a left-wing victory in the 1997 legislative elections, forced him to name Lionel Jospin Prime Minister for a five-year cohabitation. Presidential terms reduced from seven to five years. In 2002, he was re-elected against the leader of the extreme right-wing Jean-Marie Le Pen. Opposed the Iraq War. He did not run in 2007, he retired from political life and returned to the Conseil constitutionnel.
23		Nicolas Sarkozy[24]	16 May 2007	Incumbent	Union for a Popular Movement
			2007
			Held various ministerial posts 1993–1995 and 2002–2007. Leader of the UMP since 2004. In the 2007 election, he topped the first round poll, and was elected in the second round against Ségolène Royal. Soon after taking office, he introduced the French fiscal package of 2007 and other laws to counter illegal immigration and recidivism. President of the Council of the EU in 2008, he defended the Treaty of Lisbon and mediated in the South Ossetia War; at national level, he had to deal with the financial crisis and its consequences. Following the 2008 constitutional reform, he became the first President since Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte to address the Versailles Congress on 22 June 2009.

[edit] See also

• President of the French Republic
• List of Prime Ministers of France
• List of Foreign Ministers of France

[edit] References

v • d • e Republican heads of state of France Styled President of the Republic after 1871, except from 1940–44 (Chief of State) and 1944–47 (Chairman of the Provisional Government) First Republic (1792–1804) National Convention · Directory · Consulate Second Republic (1848–1852) Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure · Executive Commission · Louis-Eugène Cavaignac · Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte Government of National Defense (1870–1871) Louis Jules Trochu Third Republic (1871–1940) Adolphe Thiers · Patrice de Mac-Mahon · Jules Armand Dufaure · Jules Grévy · Maurice Rouvier · Sadi Carnot · Charles Dupuy · Jean Casimir-Perier · Charles Dupuy · Félix Faure · Charles Dupuy · Émile Loubet · Armand Fallières · Raymond Poincaré · Paul Deschanel · Alexandre Millerand · Alexandre Millerand · Frédéric François-Marsal · Gaston Doumergue · Paul Doumer · André Tardieu · Albert Lebrun Vichy France (1940–1944) Philippe Pétain Provisional Government (1944–1947) Charles de Gaulle · Félix Gouin · Georges Bidault · Vincent Auriol · Léon Blum Fourth Republic (1947–1959) Vincent Auriol · René Coty Fifth Republic (since 1959) Charles de Gaulle · Alain Poher · Georges Pompidou · Alain Poher · Valéry Giscard d'Estaing · François Mitterrand · Jacques Chirac · Nicolas Sarkozy Italics indicate interim officeholder