Michel Debré

Michel Debré

Born: January 16, 1912
Died: August 2, 1996
in Paris, France
Michel Jean-Pierre Debré (15 January 1912 – 2 August 1996) was the first Prime Minister of the French Fifth Republic. He is considered the "father" of the current Constitution of France. He served under President Charles de Gaulle from 1959 to 1962. In terms of political personality, Debré was intense and immovable and had a tendency to rhetorical extremism.

Debré was born in Paris, the son of Jeanne-Marguerite (Debat-Ponsan) and Robert Debré, a well-known professor of medicine, who is today considered by many to be the founder of modern pediatrics. His maternal grandfather was academic painter Édouard Debat-Ponsan. Debré's father was Jewish, and his grandfather was a rabbi. Debré himself was Roman Catholic.

He studied at the Lycée Montaigne and then at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, obtained a diploma from the École Libre des Sciences Politiques, and a PhD in Law from the University of Paris. He then became a Professor of Law at the University of Paris. He also joined the École des Officiers de Réserve de la Cavalerie (Reserve Cavalry-Officers School) in Saumur. In 1934, at the age of twenty-two, Debré passed the entrance exam and became a member of the Conseil d'État. In 1938, he joined the staff of the Economy Minister Paul Reynaud.

In 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War, Debré was enlisted as a cavalry officer. He was taken prisoner in Artenay in June 1940 during the Battle of France but managed to escape in September. He returned to the Conseil d'État, now under the administration of the Vichy regime and was sworn in by Marshal Philippe Pétain. In 1942, he was promoted to maître des requêtes by the Minister of Justice. After the German invasion of the free zone in November 1942, Debré's political Pétainism disappeared, and in February 1943, he became involved in the French Resistance by joining the network Ceux de la Résistance (CDLR).

During the summer of 1943, General Charles de Gaulle gave Debré the task of making a list of prefects, ho would replace those of the Vichy regime after the Liberation. In August 1944 de Gaulle made him Commissaire de la République for Angers, and in 1945, the Provisional Government charged him with the task of reforming the French Civil Service. Debré created the École nationale d'administration, whose idea was formulated by Jean Zay before the war.

Under the Fourth Republic, Debré at first supported the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance but defected to the Radical-Socialist Party on the advice de Gaulle, who reportedly told him and several other politicians, including Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Allez au parti radical. C'est là que vous trouverez les derniers vestiges du sens de l'Etat. ("Go to the Radical Party. It's there that you will find the last vestiges of the meaning of the state".)

Debré then joined the Rally of the French People and was elected senator of Indre-et-Loire, a position that he held from 1948 to 1958. In 1957, he founded Le Courrier de la colère, a newspaper that fiercely defended French Algeria and called for the return to power of de Gaulle. In the 2 December 1957 issue, Debré wrote: "As long as Algeria is French land, as long as the law of Algeria is French, the battle for Algeria is a legal battle, the insurgency for Algeria is a legal insurgency." ...

Source: Article "Michel Debré" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Michel Debré...

Title: At War for Algeria
Character: Self - Politician (archive footage)
Released: February 22, 2022
Type: TV
North Africa, 1954. The Algerian war of independence begins, a traumatic and extremely violent catastrophe that for eight long years will shake and finally overthrow the foundations of the colonial regime established by France in 1830.
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André Malraux: Writer, Politician, Adventurer
Title: André Malraux: Writer, Politician, Adventurer
Character: Self - Politician (archive footage)
Released: October 2, 2019
Type: Movie
Writer, journalist, explorer, filmmaker, communist militant, freedom fighter. Truths and lies. A plot twist. Politician. General De Gaulle's shadow. Overwhelmed by the weight of power. The numerous exploits of André Malraux (1901-1976).
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1958: Those Who Said No
Title: 1958: Those Who Said No
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 6, 2018
Type: Movie
On October 4, 2018, France celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Fifth Republic. It is a republic born in the throes of the Algerian War and one which—from the day it was founded by General de Gaulle until the presidency of a very Jupiterian Emmanuel Macron—has been assailed as a “Republican monarchy” by partisans of a more assertive parliamentarian state. By revisiting the struggle of those who dared oppose the new regime — only to suffer a crushing defeat on September 28, 1958, when they were barely able to garner 20% of the vote against the constitutional text — this film shines a powerful new light on the origins of the Fifth Republic and its consequences for the next 60 years. It is a constitutional debate that planted the seeds for a complete upheaval of the French political landscape, on the left in particular, and set the country in motion toward what would be called the Union of the Left.
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De Gaulle, the Last King of France
Title: De Gaulle, the Last King of France
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: March 27, 2017
Type: Movie
Charles de Gaulle, the first president (1958-1969) of the Vth Republic, France’s current system of government, left his mark on the country . He was statesman of action and has been compared to a monarch. This film depicts the general’s personality through the great events of his presidential term, at a time when the world was undergoing considerable changes.
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Title: Docs interdits
Released: September 12, 2011
Type: TV
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Title: 30 millions d'amis
Character: Self
Released: January 6, 1976
Type: TV
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Title: Apostrophes
Character: Self
Released: January 10, 1975
Type: TV
Apostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and hosted by Bernard Pivot. It ran for fifteen years (724 episodes) from January 10, 1975, to June 22, 1990, and was one of the most watched shows on French television (around 6 million regular viewers). It was broadcast on Friday nights on the channel France 2 (which was called "Antenne 2" from 1975 to 1992). The hourlong show was devoted to books, authors and literature. The format varied between one-on-one interviews with a single author and open discussions between four or five authors.
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Title: Discorama
Character: Self
Released: February 4, 1959
Type: TV