Jules-Vincent Auriol

Educated as lawyer at the Collège de Revel, Toulouse; president of the General Association of Students in Toulouse (1904); journalist (1909); general secretary of the Association of Journalists in Toulouse (1910); elected as a representative of Haute-Garonne to the Chambre des députés [Chamber of Deputies] (1914-1940); president of the finance committee of the Chamber of Deputies (1924-1925); mayor of Muret (from 1925); general counselor of Haute-Garonne (from 1928); minister of finances (4 Jun 1936 - 22 Jun 1937) in the cabinet of Léon Blum; minister of justice (22 Jun 1937 - 18 Jan 1938); minister for coordination of ministerial services (13 Mar 1938 - 10 Apr 1938); imprisoned by the Vichy government, released and placed under house arrest (1940-1942); escaped from France and became a member of the Assemblée consultative [Consultative Assembly] (in Algeria: 1943-1944, in Paris: 1944-1945); elected to the Assemblée nationale constituante (Constituent National Assembly) (1945-1946); minister of state (21 Nov 1945 - 26 Jan 1946) in the Provisional Government of Charles de Gaulle; President of the Constituent National Assembly (first Assembly: 31 Jan 1946 - 27 Apr 1946; second Assembly: 14 Jun 1946 - 5 Oct 1946); elected to the Assemblée nationale (National Assembly) (1946-1947); President of the National Assembly (3 Dec 1946 - 28 Dec 1946, 14 Jan 1947 - 27 Jan 1947); elected President of the Republic (16 Jan 1947), first head of state of the Quatrième République (Fourth Republic); pursued conciliatory policy; suffered criticism as a result of economic and political crisis, war in Indochina; president of the UN International Conference again racial discrimination and honorary president of the World Federation of War Veterans; member of the Conseil constitutionnel [Constitutional Council] (1959-1962). Biography source: [1; 2]