Robert Lacoste
Encyclopedia
Robert Lacoste was French politician. He was a socialist
Socialist Party (France)
The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in France and the largest party of the French centre-left. It is one of the two major contemporary political parties in France, along with the center-right Union for a Popular Movement...

 MP of the Dordogne from 1945 to 1958 and from 1962 to 1967, then senator from 1971 to 1980.

Biography

Robert Lacoste studied at the law school in Paris, and became a civil servant and CGT
Confédération générale du travail
The General Confederation of Labour is a national trade union center, the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions.It is the largest in terms of votes , and second largest in terms of membership numbers.Its membership decreased to 650,000 members in 1995-96 The General...

 trade unionist. He participated in the resistance
Resistance during World War II
Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation, disinformation and propaganda to hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns...

. In 1944, he was Joint Delegate General of the French Committee of National Liberation for occupied France, and become minister for industrial production in the provisional government of general De Gaulle. A member of both houses of parliament, and socialist MP for the Dordogne, he was Minister of Industry until 1950. He was Minister of Finance and the Economy in 1956.

After 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:...

's visit to Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

, greeted by colons
Pied-noir
Pied-Noir , plural Pieds-Noirs, pronounced , is a term referring to French citizens of various origins who lived in French Algeria before independence....

 (French-Algerian colonists) throwing tomatoes at him, Lacoste replaced general Catroux
Georges Catroux
Georges Catroux was a French Army general and diplomat who served in both World War I and World War II, and served as Grand Chancellor of the Légion d'honneur from 1954 to 1969.-Biography:...

 in February 1956, becoming resident minister and governor general of Algeria. He remained the minister of Algeria until May 1958. A proponent of forceful action, he played a principal role in the Algerian War. He also promoted accelerated social and economic programmes, highlighted by his efforts to "Algerianise" the administration. He increased Algeria's départements to twelve and drafted the Loi Cadre (enabling or framework law) designed to enhance internal autonomy and Muslim representation.

He sat in the National Assembly once more from 1962 to 1967. From 1971 to 1980, he was elected socialist senator of the Dordogne, assuming from 1974 to 1979 the vice-presidency of the regional council of Aquitaine
Aquitaine
Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...

. President of the superior council of electricity and gas of France in 1950, he was mayor of Azerat until 1983.

Governmental Positions

He was Secretary General of Industrial Production from 26 August to 4 September 1944 and then Minister of Industrial Production from 10 September 1944 to 11 August 1947,
also serving as Minister of Work and Social Security (temporary) under the government of Paul Ramadier from 4 to 9 May 1947. He was then Minister of Industry and Commerce from 11 August 1947 to 7 February 1950. He served as Minister of Economic and Financial Affairs from 1 to 9 February 1956. He was Resident Minister in Algeria from 9 February 1956 to 13 June 1957 then Minister of Algeria from 13 June 1957 to 14 May 1958.
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