Vincent Auriol

Born Aug. 27, 1884, in Revel, Haute Garonne; died Jan. 1, 1966, in Paris. French governmental and political figure.

Auriol became a Socialist Party deputy in parliament in 1914 and from 1919 to 1939 served as secretary of the party’s parliamentary group. From 1924 to 1925 he was chairman of the finance committee of the Chamber of Deputies. From 1936 to 1938 he held various ministerial posts in the Popular Front governments. In June 1940 he voted against the transfer of power to Marshal H. P. Pétain. In 1943 he joined the Fighting French movement in London. From January 1946 to January 1947 he served as president of the first and second constituent assemblies and then as chairman of the National Assembly.

Auriol was president of the French Republic from January 1947 to January 1954. In May 1947 he signed the decree by which Communist ministers were removed from the government. He supported France’s entry into NATO in 1949 and into the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. In December 1958, Auriol resigned from the Socialist Party because of disagreements with the party leadership. He became a member of the Constitutional Council in February 1959 but in 1962 refused to participate in its work in protest against the Fifth Republic. Auriol was made honorary chairman of the World Veterans Federation in 1954.