Edgar Jean Faure (; 18 August 1908 – 30 March 1988) was a French politician, lawyer, essayist, historian and memoirist who served as Prime Minister of France in 1952 and again between 1955 and 1956. Prior to his election to the National Assembly for Jura under the Fourth Republic in 1946, he was a member of the French Committee of National Liberation (CFLN) in Algiers (1943–1944). A Radical, Faure was married to writer Lucie Meyer. In 1978, he was elected to the Académie Française.
Life
Faure was born in Béziers, Hérault, to a French Army doctor. He was nearsighted yet a brilliant student since his youth, earning a baccalauréat at 15, as well as a law degree at 19 in Paris.
In 1946, he was elected to the French Parliament as a Radical.
In his 1997 book, The Zubial, author Alexandre Jardin recounts how Faure would spend time with his father, Pascal Jardin.
Political career
Governmental functions
- President of the Council (Prime Minister): January–February 1952 / February–December 1955
- Secretary of State for Finance: 1949–1950
- Minister of the Budget: 1950–1951
- Minister of Justice: 1951–1952
- Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs: 1953–1955
- Minister of Foreign Affairs: January–February 1955
- Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Planning: May–June 1958
- Minister of Agriculture: 1966–1968
- Minister of National Education: 1968–1969
- Minister of State, Minister of Social Affairs: 1972–1973
Electoral mandates
- President of the National Assembly of France: 1973–1978
- Member of the National Assembly of France for Doubs: Elected in 1967, 1968, but remains a cabinet member / 1973–1980
- Member of the National Assembly of France for Jura: 1946–1958
- Senator for Jura: 1959–1966 (became a cabinet member in 1966)
- Senator for Doubs: 1980–1988 (died in 1988)
- President of the Regional Council of Franche-Comté: 1974–1981 / 1982–1988 (died in 1988)
- Mayor of Port-Lesney: 1947–1970 / 1983–1988 (died in 1988)
- Mayor of Pontarlier: 1971–1977
- President of the General Council of Jura: 1949–1967
- General councillor of Jura: 1967–1979
Global policy
He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution. As a result, for the first time in human history, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt a Constitution for the Federation of Earth.
Bibliography
He published the following books:
- Le serpent et la tortue (les problèmes de la Chine populaire), Juillard, 1957
- La disgrâce de Turgot, Gallimard, 1961
- La capitation de Dioclétien, Sirey 1961
- Prévoir le présent, Gallimard, 1966
- L'éducation nationale et la participation, Plon, 1968
- Philosophie d'une réforme, Plon, 1969
- L'âme du combat, Fayard, 1969
- Ce que je crois, Grasset, 1971
- Pour un nouveau contrat social, Seuil, 1973
- Au-delà du dialogue avec Philippe Sollers, Balland, 1977
- La banqueroute de Law, Gallimard, 1977
- La philosophie de Karl Popper et la société politique d'ouverture, Firmin Didot, 1981
- Pascal: le procès des provinciales, Firmin Didot, 1930
- Le pétrole dans la paix et dans la guerre, Nouvelle revue critique 1938
- Mémoires I, "Avoir toujours raison, c'est un grand tort", Plon, 1982
- Mémoires II, "Si tel doit être mon destin ce soir", Plon, 1984
- Discours prononcé pour la réception de Senghor à l'Académie française, le 29 mars 1984
Governments
First ministry (20 January – 8 March 1952)
- Edgar Faure – President of the Council and Minister of Finance
- Georges Bidault – Vice President of the Council and Minister of National Defense
- Henri Queuille – Vice President of the Council
- Robert Schuman – Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Pierre Pflimlin – Minister for the Council of Europe
- Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury – Minister of Armaments
- Charles Brune – Minister of the Interior
- Robert Buron – Minister of Economic Affairs and Information
- Pierre Courant – Minister of Budget
- Jean-Marie Louvel – Minister of Industry and Energy
- Paul Bacon – Minister of Labour and Social Security
- Léon Martinaud-Deplat – Minister of Justice
- André Morice – Minister of Merchant Marine
- Pierre-Olivier Lapie – Minister of National Education
- Emmanuel Temple – Minister of Veterans and War Victims
- Camille Laurens – Minister of Agriculture
- Louis Jacquinot – Minister of Overseas France
- Antoine Pinay – Minister of Public Works, Transport, and Tourism
- Paul Ribeyre – Minister of Public Health and Population
- Eugène Claudius-Petit – Minister of Reconstruction and Town Planning
- Roger Duchet – Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones
- Édouard Bonnefous – Minister of Commerce
- Jean Letourneau – Minister of Partner States
- Joseph Laniel – Minister of State
- François Mitterrand – Minister of State
Second ministry (23 February 1955 – 1 February 1956)
- Edgar Faure – President of the Council
- Antoine Pinay – Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Pierre Koenig – Minister of National Defense and Armed Forces
- Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury – Minister of the Interior
- Pierre Pflimlin – Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs
- André Morice – Minister of Commerce and Industry
- Paul Bacon – Minister of Labour and Social Security
- Robert Schuman – Minister of Justice
- Paul Antier – Minister of Merchant Marine
- Jean Berthoin – Minister of National Education
- Raymond Triboulet – Minister of Veterans and War Victims
- Jean Sourbet – Minister of Agriculture
- Pierre-Henri Teitgen – Minister of Overseas France
- Édouard Corniglion-Molinier – Minister of Public Works, Transport, and Tourism
- Bernard Lafay – Minister of Public Health and Population
- Roger Duchet – Minister of Reconstruction and Housing
- Édouard Bonnefous – Minister of Posts
- Pierre July – Minister of Moroccan and Tunisian Affairs
Changes
- 6 October 1955 – Pierre Billotte succeeds Koenig as Minister of National Defense and Armed Forces. Vincent Badie succeeds Triboulet as Minister of Veterans and War Victims.
- 20 October 1955 – Pierre July leaves the Cabinet and the office of Minister of Moroccan and Tunisian Affairs is abolished.
- 1 December 1955 – Edgar Faure succeeds Bourgès-Maunoury as interim Minister of the Interior.