Félix Gaillard | |
|---|---|
) | |
| Prime Minister of France | |
| In office 6 November 1957 – 14 May 1958 | |
| President | René Coty |
| Preceded by | Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury |
| Succeeded by | Pierre Pflimlin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 November 1919 Paris, France |
| Died | 10 July 1970 (aged 50) near Jersey |
| Political party | Radical |
Félix Gaillard d'Aimé (French: [feliks ɡajaʁ]; 5 November 1919 – 10 July 1970) 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.[1]
Career
A senior civil servant in the Inland Revenue Service, Gaillard joined the Resistance 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.
Prime minister
He became Prime Minister in 1957, but, not unusually for the French Fourth Republic; his term of office lasted only a few months. Gaillard was defeated in a vote of no confidence by the French National Assembly, 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 represented a generation of young politicians whose careers were blighted by the advent of the Fifth Republic.
Death
Gaillard was last seen alive on 9 July 1970, when he and two passengers boarded his yacht, the Marie Grillon and departed the island of Jersey to return to the French mainland after a brief stay. The next day, bits of the wreckage of the yacht were found at the Minquiers reefs, along with the bodies of the two passengers.[2] Gaillard's body was found, along with that of another passenger, floating in the English Channel on 12 July.[3]
Gaillard's Ministry, 6 November 1957 – 14 May 1958
- Félix Gaillard – President of the Council
- Christian Pineau – Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Jacques Chaban-Delmas – Minister of National Defense and Armed Forces
- Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury – Minister of the Interior
- Pierre Pflimlin – Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs, and Planning
- Paul Ribeyre – Minister of Commerce and Industry
- Paul Bacon – Minister of Labour and Social Security
- Robert Lecourt – Minister of Justice
- René Billères – 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-Boigny – Minister of Public Health and Population
- Pierre Garet – Minister of Reconstruction and Housing
- Max Lejeune – Minister for the Sahara
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Paul Ramadier | Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs 1957 | Succeeded by Pierre Pflimlin |
| Preceded by Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury | Prime Minister of France 1957–1958 | Succeeded by Pierre Pflimlin |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Édouard Daladier | President of the Radical Party 1958–1961 | Succeeded by Maurice Faure |
References
- ^ Biography in French on the Assemblée Nationale Web Site
- ^ "Ex-French Premier Missing in Channel". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 11 July 1970. p. 2.
- ^ "Yacht Blast Yields Ex-Premier's Body". Atlanta Constitution. 11 July 1970. p. 2.