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Félix Gaillard

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Félix Gaillard
Prime Minister of France
In office
6 November 1957 – 14 May 1958
Preceded byMaurice Bourgès-Maunoury
Succeeded byPierre Pflimlin
Personal details
Born5 November 1919
Paris
Died10 July 1970(1970-07-10) (aged 50)
near Jersey
Political partyRadical

Félix Gaillard d'Aimé (French: [feliks ɡajaʁ]; 1919–1970) was a French Radical politician who served as Prime Minister under the Fourth Republic from 1957 to 1958. He was the youngest head of a French government since Napoleon.[1]

Career

A senior civil servant in the Inland Revenue Service, Gaillard joined the Resistance and served on its Finance committee. As a member of the Radical Party, he was elected deputy of Charente département in 1946. During the Fourth Republic, he held a number of governmental offices, notably as Minister of Economy and Finance in 1957.

Prime minister

He became Prime Minister in 1957, but, not unusually for the French Fourth Republic, his term of office lasted only a few months. Gaillard was defeated in a vote of no confidence by the French National Assembly, in March 1958, after the bombing of Sakiet-Sidi-Youssef, a Tunisian village.

Later political career

President of the Radical Party from 1958 to 1961, he advocated an alliance of the center-left and the center-right parties. He represented a generation of young politicians whose careers were blighted by the advent of the Fifth Republic.

Death

Gaillard's end was tragic. In July 1970 he perished in a yachting accident.

Gaillard's Ministry, 6 November 1957 – 14 May 1958

Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs
1957
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of France
1957–1958
Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Radical Party
1958–1961
Succeeded by

References