Maurice Couve de Murville
Encyclopedia
Maurice Couve de Murville (moʁis kuv də myʁvil; 24 January 1907 – 24 December 1999) was a French diplomat and politician who was Minister of Foreign Affairs
from 1958 to 1968 and Prime Minister
from 1968 to 1969 under the presidency of General de Gaulle
.
He was born Maurice Couve (his father acquired the name de Murville in 1925) in Reims
and died in Paris at the age of 92 from natural causes.
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 7 June 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.
Prime minister : 1968–1969
Minister of Foreign Affairs : 1958–1968
Minister of Economy and Finance : May–July 1968
Electoral mandates
Member of the National Assembly of France for Paris : June 1968 (He leaves his seat because he is minister) / 1973–1986
Senator of Paris : 1986–1995
On 28 April 1969 – Jean-Marcel Jeanneney
succeeded Capitant as interim Minister of Justice.
Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)
Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs ), is France's foreign affairs ministry, with the headquarters located on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris close to the National Assembly of France. The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the government of France is the cabinet minister responsible for...
from 1958 to 1968 and Prime Minister
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
from 1968 to 1969 under the presidency of General de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
.
He was born Maurice Couve (his father acquired the name de Murville in 1925) in Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
and died in Paris at the age of 92 from natural causes.
Life
Couve de Murville joined the corps of finance inspectors in 1930, and in 1940 became Director of External Finances of the VichyVichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
régime, in which capacity he sat at the armistice council of Wiesbaden. In March 1943, after the American landing in North Africa
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
, he was one of the few senior officials of Vichy to join the Free French
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
. He left for Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
, via Spain, where he joined General Henri Giraud
Henri Giraud
Henri Honoré Giraud was a French general who fought in World War I and World War II. Captured in both wars, he escaped each time....
. On 7 June 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
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
(1950 to 1954), at NATO (1954), in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
(1955 to 1956) and in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
(1956 to 1958). When General de Gaulle returned to power in 1958, he became Foreign Minister
Foreign minister
A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...
, a post which he retained for ten years until the reshuffle which followed the events of May 1968 where he replaced Finance minister
Finance minister
The finance minister is a cabinet position in a government.A minister of finance has many different jobs in a government. He or she helps form the government budget, stimulate the economy, and control finances...
Michel Debré
Michel Debré
Michel Jean-Pierre Debré was a French Gaullist politician. He is considered the "father" of the current Constitution of France, and was the first Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic...
, keeping this post only a short time: very soon after the elections, he became a transitional Prime Minister, replacing Georges Pompidou
Georges Pompidou
Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou was a French politician. He was Prime Minister of France from 1962 to 1968, holding the longest tenure in this position, and later President of the French Republic from 1969 until his death in 1974.-Biography:...
. The following year he was succeeded by Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Jacques Chaban-Delmas
Jacques Chaban-Delmas was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1969 to 1972. In addition, for almost half a century, he was Mayor of Bordeaux and a deputy for the Gironde département....
.
Couve de Murville continued his political career first as a UDR
Union des Démocrates pour la République
The Union for the Defence of the Republic or Union of Democrats for the Republic , commonly abbreviated UDR, was a Gaullist political party of France from 1968 to 1976....
deputy, then RPR
Rally for the Republic
The Rally for the Republic , was a French right-wing political party. Originating from the Union of Democrats for the Republic , it was founded by Jacques Chirac in 1976 and presented itself as the heir of Gaullism...
deputy for Paris until 1986, then as a senator
French Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the Parliament of France, presided over by a president.The Senate enjoys less prominence than the lower house, the directly elected National Assembly; debates in the Senate tend to be less tense and generally enjoy less media coverage.-History:France's first...
until 1995.
Archbishop Maurice Noël Léon Couve de Murville, the Roman Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
(1929–2007), was his cousin.
Published works
- Une politique étrangère, 1958–1969 (1971). ISBN unknown
- Le Monde en face (1989). ISBN 2-259-02222-7
Political career
Governmental functionsPrime minister : 1968–1969
Minister of Foreign Affairs : 1958–1968
Minister of Economy and Finance : May–July 1968
Electoral mandates
Member of the National Assembly of France for Paris : June 1968 (He leaves his seat because he is minister) / 1973–1986
Senator of Paris : 1986–1995
Couve de Murville's Government
The cabinet from 10 July 1968 – 22 June 1969- Maurice Couve de Murville – Prime Minister
- Michel DebréMichel DebréMichel Jean-Pierre Debré was a French Gaullist politician. He is considered the "father" of the current Constitution of France, and was the first Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic...
– Minister of Foreign Affairs - Pierre MessmerPierre MessmerPierre Joseph Auguste Messmer was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Minister of Armies under Charles de Gaulle from 1960 to 1969 – the longest serving since Étienne François, duc de Choiseul under Louis XV – and then as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1972 to 1974...
– Minister of Armies - Raymond MarcellinRaymond MarcellinRaymond Marcellin was a French politician.- Biography :The son of a banker, he studied law at the University of Strasbourg and the University of Paris. He worked as a lawyer for three years, before being called into the army in September 1939. He was captured by the Wehrmacht, but managed to...
– Minister of the Interior, Public Health, and Population - François-Xavier OrtoliFrançois-Xavier OrtoliFrançois-Xavier Ortoli was a French Gaullist politician and businessman. He served with the Free French Forces during World War II and was decorated with the Croix de guerre, Médaille militaire and Médaille de la Résistance...
– Minister of Economy and Finance - André BettencourtAndré BettencourtAndré Bettencourt was a French politician. He had been awarded the Croix de Guerre, and is a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor...
– Minister of Industry - Joseph FontanetJoseph FontanetJoseph Fontanet was a French politician.He was first elected to Parliament in 1956 as MP for Savoie. In his 17 years in Parliament he held various cabinet positions including Health, Labour and Employment, and trade and industry. He succeeded Bernard Chenot, one of the first openly gay officials...
– Minister of Labour, Employment, and Population - René CapitantRené CapitantRené Marie Alphonse Charles Capitant was a French lawyer and politician.He was the son of a lawyer, Henri Capitant, and attended the Lycée Henri-IV in Paris...
– Minister of Justice - Edgar FaureEdgar FaureEdgar Faure was a French politician, essayist, historian, and memoirist.-Career:Faure was born in Béziers, Languedoc-Roussillon. He trained as a lawyer in Paris and became a member of the Bar at 27, the youngest lawyer in France to do so at the time...
– Minister of National Education - Henri DuvillardHenri DuvillardHenri Duvillard is a French former alpine ski racer. He is one of just seven men to win World Cup races in every discipline contested at the time....
– Minister of Veterans and War Victims - André MalrauxAndré MalrauxAndré Malraux DSO was a French adventurer, award-winning author, and statesman. Having traveled extensively in Indochina and China, Malraux was noted especially for his novel entitled La Condition Humaine , which won the Prix Goncourt...
– Minister of Cultural Affairs - Robert BoulinRobert BoulinRobert Boulin was a French politician who served as Minister of Labour in the French Cabinet and was at the centre of a major real-estate scandal that ended only with his death in mysterious circumstances...
– Minister of Agriculture - Albin ChalandonAlbin ChalandonAlbin Chalandon is a French politician and a former minister.Between 1968 and 1972, he was Minister of Public Works...
– Minister of Equipment and Housing - Jean ChamantJean ChamantJean Chamant was a French politician, judge and senator who served from 1977–1995.- Career :Chamant graduated from the Ecole Saint-Jacques with a degree in Law and began his career as a lawyer in 1937. Chamant assumed the title of judge in 1977.- References :...
– Minister of Transport - Roger FreyRoger FreyRoger Frey was a French politician. He was Minister of the Interior and president of the Constitutional Council of France.-Monokini prosecution:...
– Minister of Relations with Parliament - Yves GuénaYves GuénaYves Guéna is a French politician. In 1940, he joined the Free French Forces in the United Kingdom. He received several decorations for his courage....
– Minister of Posts and Telecommunications - Maurice SchumannMaurice SchumannMaurice Schumann was a French politician, journalist, writer, and hero of the Second World War who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Georges Pompidou in the 1960s and 1970s...
– Minister of Social Affairs
On 28 April 1969 – Jean-Marcel Jeanneney
Jean-Marcel Jeanneney
Jean-Marcel Jeanneney was a minister in various French governments in the 1950s and 60s, as well as France's first ambassador to Algeria in the immediate aftermath of the Algerian War...
succeeded Capitant as interim Minister of Justice.