1. Gaston Monnerville was a French Radical politician and lawyer who served as the first President of the Senate under the Fifth Republic from 1958 to 1968.
10 Facts About Gaston Monnerville
1. 2.
Gaston Monnerville previously served as President of the Council of the Republic from 1947 to 1958.
3.
The grandson of a slave on his mother's side, Monnerville grew up in French Guiana and went to Toulouse to complete his studies.
4.
Gaston Monnerville was not demobilized until 17 July 1940, well after the French defeat by Nazi Germany, and therefore did not get to vote on the grant of dictatorial powers to Marshal Petain.
5.
Gaston Monnerville protested against the armistice signed by Petain, and complained about the treatment of French colonial subjects by Petain's Vichy government.
6.
Gaston Monnerville was defeated for election to the Third Constituent Assembly in November 1946, in part because some Guianese objected to his efforts to close the prison colony of Devil's Island.
7.
Gaston Monnerville was immediately elected President of this Council, and became one of the most active members of the Senate.
Related searches
Georges Pompidou 8.
Gaston Monnerville served as Senator from Lot and President of the Council until the end of the Fourth Republic in 1958.
9.
In 1958, Gaston Monnerville supported Charles de Gaulle in returning to power, but he objected to De Gaulle's dissolution of the Fourth Republic.
10.
Gaston Monnerville went as far as to use the strong word of forfaiture against the behaviour of Prime Minister Georges Pompidou, who had accepted to sign the referendum project.