René Billères was a French politician.

Billères served as a Radical-Socialist deputy for the Hautes-Pyrénées

Hautes-Pyrénées

Hautes-Pyrénées is a department in southwestern France. It is part of the Midi-Pyrénées region.-History:...

 from 1946 till 1973 and Senator for the same department from 1973 till 1983. He served as Minister of National Education

Minister of National Education (France)

The Ministry of National Education, Youth, and Sport , or simply "Minister of National Education," as the title has changed no small number of times in the course of the Fifth Republic) is the French government cabinet member charged with running France's public educational system and with the...

 in numerous Fourth Republic

French Fourth Republic

The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...

 governments (Guy Mollet

Guy Mollet

Guy Mollet was a French Socialist politician. He led the French Section of the Workers' International party from 1946 to 1969 and was Prime Minister in 1956–1957.-Early life and World War II:...

, Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury

Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury

Maurice Jean Marie Bourgès-Maunoury was a French Radical politician who served as Prime Minister in the Fourth Republic during 1957.He is famous, especially, for fulfilling prominent ministerial role in the government during the Suez Crisis....

 and Félix Gaillard

Félix Gaillard

Félix Gaillard d'Aimé was a French Radical politician who served as Prime Minister under the Fourth Republic from 1957 to 1958. He was the youngest head of a French government since Napoleon.-Career:...

). As Minister of National Education, he extended the years of compulsory schooling and played an instrumental role in increasing the ministry's budget.

As President of the Radical-Socialist Party from 1965 to 1969, he played an important role in the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left

Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left

The Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left was a conglomerate of French left-wing non-Communist forces. It was founded to support François Mitterrand's candidature at the 1965 presidential election and to couter-balance the Communist preponderance over the French left...

.