v40_1973 - 20 francs G. Guiraud 1951 F.402/7

IV REPUBLIC

(16/01/1947-8/01/1959)

Characterized by a parliamentary regime coupled with great ministerial instability, the Fourth Republic has the particularity of never having been officially proclaimed. Indeed, De Gaulle, when he arrived in Paris on August 25, 1944, refused to do so on the pretext that the Republic had never ceased to exist. Considering that the French State of Marshal Pétain was only a simple state of affairs, he considers that the Republic survived in free France and his birth certificate must then be June 18, 1940. However, his departure, the January 20, 1946, and the referendum of October 13, 1946 approving a new Constitution, mark the official beginning of this republic. It knows two presidents: Vincent Auriol (16/01/1947 - 23/12/1953) and René Coty (23/12/1953 - 8/1/1959). The open crisis caused by the revolt of the army of Algeria leads, in 1958, to its fall which is confirmed by the adoption of a new constitution on September 28, 1958. Nevertheless, it does not cease definitively until the 8 January 1959 when General de Gaulle was installed as President of the Fifth Republic.