Maurice Couve de Murville

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For the former Archbishop of Birmingham, see Maurice Noël Léon Couve de Murville.
Maurice Couve de Murville
Maurice Couve de Murville
152nd Prime Minister of France
3rd Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic
In office
July 10, 1968 – July 20, 1969
President Charles de Gaulle
Preceded by Georges Pompidou
Succeeded by Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Born January 27, 1907
Reims
Died December 24, 1999
Paris
Political party UDR
Occupation Military
Diplomat
Civil Servant
Politician
Religion Protestant[1][2]


Maurice Couve de Murville (January 24, 1907 - December 24, 1999) was a French politician, and Prime Minister of France for 11 months from 1968 to 1969 under the presidency of General de Gaulle.

He was born Maurice Couve (his father acquired the title de Murville in 1925) in Reims and died in Paris at the age of 92 from natural causes.

Contents

[edit] Life

Couve de Murville joined the corps of finance inspectors in 1930, and in 1940 became Director of External Finances of the Vichy régime, in which capacity he sat at the armistice council of Wiesbaden. In March 1943, after the American landing in North Africa, he was one of the few senior officials of Vichy to join the Free French. He left for Algiers, via Spain, where he joined General Henri Giraud. On June 7, 1943, he was named commissioner of finance of the French Committee of National Liberation (CFLN). A few months later, he joined General Charles de Gaulle. In February 1945, he became member of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) with the rank of ambassador attached to the Italian government.

After the war, he occupied several posts as French Ambassador, in Cairo (1950 to 1954), at NATO (1954), in Washington (1955 to 1956) and in Bonn (1956 to 1958). When General de Gaulle returned to power in 1958, he became Foreign Minister, a post which he retained for ten years until the reshuffle which followed the events of May 1968 where he replaced Finance minister Michel Debré, keeping this post only a short time: very soon after the elections, he became a transitional Prime Minister, replacing Georges Pompidou. The following year he was succeeded by Jacques Chaban-Delmas.

Couve de Murville continued his political career first as a UDR deputy, then RPR deputy for Paris until 1986, then as a senator until 1995.

Archbishop Maurice Noël Léon Couve de Murville, the Roman Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Birmingham (1929-2007), was his cousin.

[edit] Published works

  • Une politique étrangère, 1958-1969 (1971). ISBN unknown
  • Le Monde en face (1989). ISBN 2-259-02222-7

[edit] Ministerial posts

[edit] Couve de Murville's Government

The cabinet from July 10, 1968 - June 22, 1969

On April 28, 1969 - Jean-Marcel Jeanneney succeeded Capitant as interim Minister of Justice.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Time: Cool Couve's Greatest Test
  2. ^ Time: NEW FACES IN DE GAULLE'S CABINET


Preceded by
André Diethelm		 Free French Commissioner for Finance
1943		 Succeeded by
Pierre Mendès-France
Preceded by
René Pleven		 Minister of Foreign Affairs
1958–1968		 Succeeded by
Michel Debré
Preceded by
Michel Debré		 Minister of Economy and Finance
1968		 Succeeded by
François-Xavier Ortoli
Preceded by
Georges Pompidou		 Prime Minister of France
1968–1969		 Succeeded by
Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Couve_de_Murville"
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