Political party Radical Party Radical Party Died July 10, 1970, Jersey | Role French Politician Name Felix Gaillard Succeeded by Pierre Pflimlin | |
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Preceded by Maurice Bourges-Maunoury | ||
Félix Gaillard d'Aimé ([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.
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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
