Habib Bourguiba

Born Aug. 3, 1903, in Munastir. Tunisian politician and statesman.

A jurist by education and profession, Bourguiba graduated from the faculty of law at the Sorbonne and the Haute Ecole des Sciences Politiques in Paris in 1927. He had joined the Destour Party in 1922 and became the leader of its radical wing. From 1934, after the split in the Destour Party, he became secretary-general and then chairman of the Neo-Destour Party, which became the Socialist Destour Party in 1964. As a participant in the struggle for Tunisian independence he was arrested by the French colonial authorities in 1934 and again in 1938. In 1952 he was arrested and sent out of the country. He returned in June 1955. After the proclamation of Tunisian independence in March 1956 he became head of government. He became president on July 25, 1957, and, at the same time, head of government of the Tunisian Republic until November 1969.