 |
René-Joël-Simon Mayer
b. 4 May 1895, Paris
d. 13 Dec 1972, Paris |
| Title: |
Président du Conseil des ministres (President of the Council of Ministers) |
| Term: |
8 Jan 1953 - 28 Jun 1953 |
| Chronology: |
7 Jan 1953,
endorsed by the vote of investiture, session of the Assemblée nationale (National Assembly), Palais-Bourbon, Paris [1][2] |
|
8 Jan 1953,
appointed on the list of members of the Council of Ministers, decree of the President of the Republic [3] |
|
28 Jun 1953,
ceased to exercise the functions of office upon the appointment of a successor [4] |
| Biography: |
| Born in a wealthy Jewish bourgeois family; was educated at the Lycée Carnot; received a degree in law and philosophy from the Faculté des Lettres in Paris (1914); distinguished himself as a brave officer during World War I; pursued successful career as civil servant of the Conseil d'Etat (Council of State, 1920-1928); worked as a senior staff member in several Cabinets; cousin of Édouard Alphonse de Rothschild, he held top positions in the banks and companies controlled by the Rothschild family; serving as head of mission of the French munition ministry, he was staying in London when Charles de Gaulle appealed for anti-Nazi resistance; preferred to return to France, where he relied on support among the officials of the Vichy regime including Pierre Laval; fled to Algeria (1943), where with the support of General Henri Giraud he became national commissioner for communications and merchant navy (26 Mar 1943 - 9 Nov 1943) and a member of the French Committee of National Liberation (Comité français de la Libération nationale) (7 Jun 1943 - 10 Sep 1944); gradually turned to supporting de Gaulle and was appointed minister of transport and public works (10 Sep 1944 - 21 Nov 1945) in the provisional government; commissioner general for German and Austrian affairs (26 Dec 1945 - 14 May 1946); mayor of Giverny, Eure (1945-1953); elected to the second (1946) Assemblée nationale constituante (Constituent National Assembly) on the list of the Rally of Republican Lefts (Rassemblement des gauches républicaines); as a representative of the Party of Republican Union (Parti d'union républicaine), he was elected to the Assemblée nationale (National Assembly), where he was a deputy for the département of Constantine, Algeria (1946-1955); councilor general (from 1949) and president of the general council of Constantine (1949-1951, 1953-1955); minister of finance and economic affairs (24 Nov 1947 - 26 Jul 1948); minister of national defense (26 Jul 1948 - 11 Sep 1948); staunch supporter of European unity and Atlantic allaince; was designated as President of the Council of Ministers and invested by the National Assembly (20 Oct 1949), but failed to form a Cabinet because of disagreement with socialists; minister of justice (28 Oct 1949 - 11 Aug 1951); vice-president of the Council of Ministers and minister of finance and economic affairs (11 Aug 1951 - 20 Jan 1952); was named a representative of France in the European Coal and Steel Community; after unsuccessful attempt of Jacques Soustelle to form a government, he was designated and approved as President of the Council of Ministers (8 Jan 1953 - 27 Jun 1953) with 81 votes of gaullists; resigned (21 May 1953) in response to the lack of support from the National Assembly in granting him extraordinary powers to settle economic issues; president of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (1955-1958). |
| Biographical sources: Dictionnaire des parlementaires français 1940-1958, 5:340-345. |
| Elections: |
| Vote of investiture (6 Jan 1953 - 7 Jan 1953) |
| votes cast |
594 |
| constitutional majority |
314 |
| in favour |
389 |
| against |
205 |
|
| Source of electoral results: Journal officiel de la République française. Débats parlementaires. Compte rendu in extenso des séances de l'Assemblée nationale et du Conseil de la République. N° 1. Mardi 7 Janvier 1953. P. 54-55. |
| |
| [1] |
Journal officiel de la République française. Débats parlementaires. Compte rendu in extenso des séances de l'Assemblée nationale et du Conseil de la République. N° 1. Mardi 7 Janvier 1953. P. 1-39. |
| [2] |
The session of the National Assembly started at 16:00 6 Jan 1953 and continued to 03:20 7 Jan 1953; the results of the vote of investiture were announced at 03:15 7 Jan 1953. |
| [3] |
Journal officiel de la République française. Lois et Décrets. N° 7. Jeudi 8 Janvier 1953. P. 307. |
| [4] |
Journal officiel de la République française. Lois et Décrets. N° 150. Dimanche 28 Juin 1953. P. 5770. |
