René Coty

René Coty
File:René Coty portrait officiel.jpg Official portrait of Coty (1954)
President of France
In office 16 January 1954 – 8 January 1959
Prime Minister	Joseph Laniel Pierre Mendes-France Edgar Faure Guy Mollet Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury Félix Gaillard Pierre Pflimlin Charles de Gaulle
Preceded by	Vincent Auriol
Succeeded by	Charles de Gaulle
Member of the Senate
In office 7 November 1948 – 23 December 1953
Constituency	Seine-Maritime
In office 14 January 1936 – 1 January 1944
Constituency	Seine-Maritime
Minister of Reconstruction and Urban Development
In office 24 November 1947 – 7 September 1948
Prime Minister	Robert Schuman André Marie
Preceded by	Jean Letourneau
Succeeded by	Eugène Claudius-Petit
Member of the National Assembly
In office 21 October 1945 – 19 November 1948
Constituency	Seine-Maritime
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 10 June 1923 – 31 May 1935
Constituency	Seine-Maritime
Personal details
Born	Jules Gustave René Coty (1882-03-20)20 March 1882 Le Havre, France
Died	Le Havre, France
Nationality	French
Political party	Radical-Socialist Party (1908–1923) Democratic Alliance (1923–1940) Independent (1940–1949) National Centre of Independents and Peasants (1949–1962)
Spouse(s)	Germaine Corblet (b.1886) (m. 1907–55); her death
Children	Geneviève (1907–1987) Anne-Marie (1909–1987)
Alma mater	University of Caen Normandy
Profession	Lawyer
Awards	Legion of Honour
Military service
Allegiance	France
Service/branch	French Army
Years of service	1914–1918
Rank	Soldier
Unit	129th Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	World War I: Battle of Verdun (1916)

Jules Gustave René Coty (French pronunciation: ​[ʁəne kɔti]; 20 March 1882 – 22 November 1962) was President of France from 1954 to 1959. He was the second and last president of the Fourth French Republic.

Early life and politics

René Coty was born in Le Havre and studied at the University of Caen, where he graduated in 1902, receiving degrees in law and philosophy. He worked as a lawyer in his hometown of Le Havre, specialising in maritime and commercial law.

He also became involved in politics, as a member of the Radical Party, and in 1907 was elected as a district councillor. The following year he was elected to the communal council of Le Havre as a member of the Republican Left group. He retained both of these positions until 1919. Coty also served as a member of the Conseil Général of Seine-Inférieure from 1913 to 1942, holding the post of Vice President from 1932.

When the First World War broke out, Coty volunteered for the army, joining the 129th Infantry Regiment. He fought at the Battle of Verdun. He entered the Chamber of Deputies in 1923, succeeding Jules Siegfried as Deputy for Seine-Inférieure. However, by this stage of his political career Coty had moved away from the Radical Party, and sat as a member of the Republican Union. Between 13 and 23 December 1930 he served as Under-secretary of State for the Interior in the government of Théodore Steeg.

In 1936, Coty was elected to the Senate for Seine-Inférieure. He was one of the French parliamentarians who, on 10 July 1940, voted to give extraordinary powers to Philippe Pétain, thereby bringing about the Nazi-backed Vichy government. Coty remained relatively inactive during the Second World War, although he was rehabilitated after the war.

Postwar life and presidency

He was a member of the Constituent National Assembly from 1944 to 1946, and chaired the right-wing Independent Republican group, which later became part of the National Center of Independents and Peasants. Coty was elected to the National Assembly in 1946 as a Deputy for Seine-Inférieure, and from November 1947 to September 1948, he served as Minister for Reconstruction and Urban Planning in the governments of Robert Schuman and André Marie. Coty was elected as a member of the Council of the Republic in November 1948, and served as Vice President of the Council from 1952.

Coty stood as a candidate for President in 1953, although it was thought unlikely that he would be elected. Nonetheless, and despite twelve successive ballots, right-wing favourite Joseph Laniel failed to obtain the absolute majority required. Following the withdrawal of another key right-wing candidate, Louis Jacquinot, Coty was finally elected in the thirteenth ballot on 23 December 1953, winning 477 votes against the 329 of socialist Marcel-Edmond Naegelen. He succeeded Vincent Auriol as President on 16 January 1954.

As President of the Republic, Coty was even less active than his predecessor in trying to influence policy. His presidency was troubled by the political instability of the Fourth Republic and the Algerian question. With the deepening of the crisis in 1958, on 29 May of that year, President Coty appealed to Charles de Gaulle, the "most illustrious of Frenchmen" to become the last Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic. Coty had threatened to resign if de Gaulle's appointment was not approved by the National Assembly.

De Gaulle drafted a new constitution, and on 28 September, a referendum took place in which 79.2% of those who voted supported the proposals, which led to the Fifth Republic. De Gaulle was elected as President of the new Republic by parliament in December, and succeeded Coty on 9 January 1959. Coty was a member of the Constitutional Council from 1959 until his death in 1962.

In popular culture

A photo of President Coty is a running joke in the 2006 French spy spoof OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies.

See also

• Politics of France

External links

• An AP obituary of René Coty, 23 November 1962.

Political offices
Preceded by Jean Letourneau	Minister of Reconstruction 1947–1948	Succeeded by Eugène Claudius-Petit
Preceded by Vincent Auriol	President of France 1954–1959	Succeeded by Charles de Gaulle
Regnal titles
Preceded by Vincent Auriol	Co-Prince of Andorra 1954–1959 Served alongside: Ramon Iglesias i Navarri	Succeeded by Charles de Gaulle