Biography of Coty, René - Archontology
Coty, René

René-Jules-Gustave Coty

b. 20 Mar 1882, Le Havre, Seine-Inférieure
d. 22 Nov 1962, Le Havre, Seine-Inférieure

Title: Président de la République (President of the Republic)
Term: 16 Jan 1954 - 8 Jan 1959
Chronology: 23 Dec 1953, elected, joint session of the Parlement (styled Congrès), salle du Congrès, Palais de Versailles [1]
16 Jan 1954, assumed the functions of office, public ceremony, salle des Fêtes, Palais de l'Elysée, Paris [2]
8 Jan 1959, expiration of term
Biography:
Received degrees in law and philosophy from the University of Caen; worked as lawyer at Le Havre (1902); district counselor (1907); municipal counselor at Le Havre (1908); general counselor of Seine-Inferieure (1919) and vice president of the General Council of Seine-Inferieure (1931); elected to the Chambre des députés (Chamber of Deputies) as a representative of Seine-Inferieure (1923-1935); sat with the left Republicans; vice president of the committee for marine and committee for state reform in the Chammber of Deputies; elected to the Sénat from Seine-Inferieure (1935-1940); remained relatively inactive during World War II; elected to the Assemblée constituante [Constituent Assembly] (1945-1946) and Assemblée nationale [National Assembly] (1946-1947); minister of reconstruction and town planning (24 Nov 1947 - 11 Sep 1948) in the governments of Robert Schuman and André Marie; elected to one of the chambers of Parlement, Conseil de la République [Council of Republic] from Seine-Inferieure (1948-1953); vice president of the Council of Republic (1948-1953); elected President of the Republic (23 Dec 1953); was less active in trying to influence policy than his predecessor, Vincent Auriol; following the army coups in Algeria and Corsica, faced political crisis of May 1958; threatened to resign (29 May 1958) if Charles de Gaulle is not approved by the National Assembly as President of the Council of Ministers; constitution of the Cinquième République (Fifth Republic) was approved in a referendum (1958); member of the Conseil constitutionnel [Constitutional Council] (1959-1962).
Biographical sources: "René Coty, tel qu'en lui-même", by Francis de Baecque (Paris: STH, 1991).
Elections:

Candidate 17 Dec 1953 18 Dec 1953 19 Dec 1953 20 Dec 1953
1st 2nd 3rd
4th 5th 6th 7th
8th
Marcel-Edmond Naegelen 160 299 313 344 312 306 303 381
Joseph-René Laniel 155 276 358 408 374 397 407 430
Georges-Augustin Bidault 131 143 2 - 13 - 1 2
Yvon-Pierre-Stanislas Delbos 129 185 225 42 - - 3 5
Paul-Jacques Kalb 114 3 - - - - - -
Gilles-Marcel Cachin 113 3 - - - - - -
Jacques Fourcade 62 - - - - - - 1
François-Xavier-Stanislas-Horace-Jean-Antoine-Marie-René-Pierre-Anthiome Médecin 54 - 6 45 197 171 156 9
André Cornu - - 1 35 - - 1 1
Antoine Pinay - - - - - - 2 25
Louis-Lucien-Raymond Jacquinot - 3 - - - - 10 14
Pierre Montel - 1 - - - - - 2
René-Jules-Gustave Coty - - - - - - - 4
Charles-André-Joseph-Marie de Gaulle - 6 9 - - - 7 5
Jules-Vincent Auriol - 2 3 - - - 6 8
Jean [?] Nouveau - 1 - - - - - -
Édouard-Marie Herriot - 1 - - - - - 6
René Pleven - - 2 - - - 1 3
Gaston-Charles-François Monnerville - - 1 - - - - -
Antoine-Henri Queuille - - 1 - - - 1 1
François-Xavier-Marie-Victor Reille-Soult-Dalmatie, duc de Dalmatie - - 1 - - - - -
Jacques-Sébastien Gavini
- - - - - - 2 1
Jean-Jacques Juglas - - - - - - 2 -
Pierre-Guy Coulon - - - - - - 1 -
Auguste-Lous-Marie Durand - - - - - - 1 -
Marie-Joseph-Pierre-François Koenig - - - - - - 1 -
Ferdinand Lop - - - - - - 1 -
François Mauriac - - - - - - 1 -
Auguste-Alain-Georges Pernot - - - - - - 1 -
Warma - - - - - - 1 -
Roger-Benoît [?] Duchet - - - - - - - 1
de Freyssinette
- - - - - - - 1
Alphonse-Pierre Juin - - - - - - - 1
Marcel-Xavier Massot - - - - - - - 1
Joseph Wasmer - - - - - - - 1
unidentified 10 - - 44 25 31 - -
blank/invalid 4 4 9 10 5 8 13 15
total votes cast 932 927 931 928 926 913 922 918
absolute majority 467 464 466 465 464 457 462 460

Candidate
21 Dec 1953 21 Dec 1953 23 Dec 1953 23 Dec 1953 23 Dec 1953
9th 10th 11th 12th 13th
Marcel-Edmond Naegelen 365 358 372 333 329
Joseph-René Laniel 413 392 12 - -
Louis-Lucien-Raymond Jacquinot - - 338 26 21
Pierre Montel 103 84 - - -
René-Jules-Gustave Coty - - 71 431 477
Georges-Augustin Bidault - - 12 - -
Pierre-Eugène-Jean Pflimlin - - 12 - -
Marie-Joseph-Pierre-François Koenig - - 10 - -
unidentified 28 33 53 92 44
blank/invalid 7 31 17 16 13
total votes cast 916 898 897 898 884
absolute majority 459 450 449 450 443

[1] JORF - Débats parlementaires, No. ?, ? Dec 1953, pp. ??.
[2] JORF - Lois et décrets, No. 13, 17 Jan 1954, pp. 658-659; Le Monde, No. 2793, 17-18 Jan 1954, pp. 1-2.
Image: Agence France-Presse.