26 Facts About Fouad Chehab

Fouad Abdallah Chehab was a Lebanese general and statesman who served as president of Lebanon from 1958 to 1964.

Fouad Chehab is considered to be the founder of the Lebanese Army after Lebanon gained independence from France, and became its first commander in 1946.

Fouad Chehab was appointed Prime Minister of Lebanon by the outgoing president Bechara El Khoury, who resigned due to widespread demonstrations against his administration, and tasked Chehab with the role of organizing the next presidential election, in which Camille Chamoun was elected.

Fouad Chehab was elected President of Lebanon in the 1958 election, being considered a "consensus option" both internationally and locally, and succeeded Chamoun.

Fouad Chehab died in 1973, two years before the civil war.

Fouad Chehab was a member of the Maronite Christian family of Chehab, a dynasty which ruled Mount Lebanon under Ottoman rule until the establishment of the Mutasarrifate in 1842.

Fouad Chehab was last seen in Marseille and it has been speculated that he died while on a ship transporting him there.

In 1921, Fouad Chehab joined the French Military School in Damascus, Syria, and graduated as a lieutenant in 1923.

Fouad Chehab was promoted to captain in 1929, and headed the Rashaya casern.

Fouad Chehab later studied at the Ecole Superieure de Guerre in Paris, France, during the 1930s.

Fouad Chehab became Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces in 1945, at which time Lebanon gained its independence upon the end of the French mandate.

In 1952, Fouad Chehab refused to allow the army to interfere in the uprising that forced Lebanese President Bechara El Khoury to resign.

Fouad Chehab became the Prime Minister of Lebanon in September 1952, and hold the additional portfolio of defense minister.

Fouad Chehab was then appointed president with the duty to ensure an emergency democratic presidential election.

Widely trusted by the Muslims for his impartiality and now supported by the Americans, Fouad Chehab was chosen as the consensus candidate to succeed Chamoun as president to restore peace to the country.

On taking office, Fouad Chehab declared, "The revolution has no winners and no losers".

In 1960, two years into his six-year presidential mandate, seeing that the country had been stabilised and having paved the way for reforms, Fouad Chehab offered to resign.

Fouad Chehab's rule was a delicate balancing act of maintaining relative harmony between the nation's Christian and Muslim populations.

Fouad Chehab followed the path and principles of dialogue and moderation coupled with public reforms, which came to be known as Chehabism.

Fouad Chehab backed the candidacy of Charles Helou, who became the next president.

Fouad Chehab later became dissatisfied with Helou's presidency over the perceived mishandling of the armed presence of Palestinian guerrillas in Southern Lebanon and over Helou's maneuvers to pave the way for the traditional feudal politicians to regain power.

Fouad Chehab was widely expected to contest the presidential election of 1970, but in a historical declaration, he declared that his experience in office had convinced him that the people of his country were not ready to put aside traditional or feudal politics or to support him in building a modern state.

Fouad Chehab chose to endorse his protege, Elias Sarkis, instead.

Fouad Chehab died in Beirut in April 1973, at the age of 71.

Fouad Chehab was married to Rose Rene Poitieux, a French national.

Fouad Chehab is seen as the greatest president of the country by several politicians such as Raymond Edde, journalists such as Samir Atallah and Jihad Al Khazen, and commentators such as Ziad Rahbani.