Vincent Auriol

Vincent Jules Auriol (27 August 1884 – 1 January 1966) was a French lawyer and socialist politician who served as the first president of the Fourth Republic from 1947 to 1954. He entered politics as a deputy (representative) for Muret in the Chamber of Deputies in 1914, a position he held until 1942. He also served as Minister of Finance (1936-1937) and as Minister of Justice (1937-1938). After France fell to Nazi Germany, Auriol was one of 80 deputies voted against the extraordinary powers given to Prime Minister Philippe Pétain on 10 July 1940. He was placed under arrest by the Vichy government until October, 1942, when he escaped and joined the French Resistance. He fought with them for a year, until he fled to London.

After World War II, Auriol joined the Provisional Government of Charles de Gaulle. He served as a delegate to the United Nations in 1946, returned to the Chamber of Deputies in 1947, and participated in creating the new constitution for the Fourth Republic. He was elected first president by a wide margin.

Auriol's presidency was marked by turmoil, and exacerbated the weakness built into the office. The economy was weak, and there were strikes on three separate occasions. The French colonial empire began unraveling, and there were eighteen different governments headed by ten different premiers during Auriol's seven years as president.

Auriol opted not to seek re-election, preferring to become an elder statesman in retirement. He campaigned against the creation of the Fifth Republic, and opposed Charles de Gaulle's increasing power. He died of natural causes in January, 1966.

Vincent Auriol in The Hot War
Vincent Auriol was the President of French Fourth Republic during the outbreak of World War III.

Prior to World War III, France had contributed troops to the UN forces during the Korean War. France also maintained an occupation zone in West Germany. Consequently, when the United States used atomic bombs in Manchuria on January 23, 1951, France was the target of a Soviet retaliatory attack on February 1, which destroyed Nancy and Rouen. The United Kingdom and West Germany also suffered the loss of two cities each.

President Auriol and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee immediately contacted U.S. President Harry Truman, invoking the NATO treaty. Truman, in the hopes of mollifying his allies, ordered a mission to bomb Pechenga, the base where the Soviet bombers had flown out of. Truman even used flyers from Britain and France.

However that led to a series of tit-for-tat bombings between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. until the Soviet Union and its allies invaded West Germany on February 17, 1951. French troops joined the rest of NATO in fighting the Soviet onslaught. However, throughout February and March, the Soviets, using their numerical superiority, made substantial gains in West Germany. As the U.S. was relying heavily on France's shipping and transportation hubs, the Soviets destroyed Bordeaux with an atomic bomb in late April, 1951. Even more devastating for France was the atomic attack on Paris in June, 1951.