René Coty

Biography

René Coty was born in Le Havre in 1882 and studied law and philosophy at the University of Caen, graduating in 1902. He practised as a lawyer in Le Havre, specialising in maritime and commercial cases, and entered local politics with the Radical Party, sitting on the district and municipal councils from 1907 and 1908 and on the general council of Seine-Inférieure from 1913 to 1942. He volunteered for the army in the First World War and fought at Verdun with the 129th Infantry Regiment.

He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for Seine-Inférieure in 1923, by then sitting with the Republican Union rather than the Radicals, and briefly served as under-secretary of state for the interior in December 1930. In 1936 he moved to the Senate. On 10 July 1940 he was among the parliamentarians who voted full powers to Philippe Pétain; he stayed largely inactive during the war and was later rehabilitated.

After the Liberation he sat in the constituent assemblies and the National Assembly, led the Independent Republican group and served as minister of reconstruction and urban planning in 1947 and 1948. He then entered the Council of the Republic, becoming one of its vice presidents. In December 1953 he was elected President of the Republic on the thirteenth ballot, after twelve rounds had failed to produce a majority.

Coty took office in January 1954 and played a reserved role during the governmental instability of the Fourth Republic and the Algerian question. In the crisis of May 1958 he called on Charles de Gaulle to form a government, threatening to resign if the Assembly refused. After the new constitution was approved he handed over to de Gaulle in January 1959, then sat on the Constitutional Council until his death in Le Havre in 1962.