Gaston Monnerville

Infobox President | name=Gaston Monnerville


order=President of the French Senate
term_start=October 4, 1959
term_end=October 2, 1968
predecessor=("President of the Council of Republic")
successor=Alain Poher
order2=President of the Council of the Republic
term_start2=March 18, 1947
term_end2=October 4, 1959
predecessor2=Auguste Champetier de Ribes
successor2=("became Senate President")
birth_date=January 2, 1897
birth_place=Cayenne
death_date=November 7 1991
death_place=Paris

Gaston Monnerville (January 2, 1897, Cayenne - November 7, 1991, Paris) was a French politician and lawyer. [ [http://www.assembleenationale.fr/histoire/biographies/IVRepublique/monnerville-gaston-02011897.asp Biography in French on the Web site of the Assemblée Nationale] ]

The grandson of a slave, he grew up in French Guiana and went to Toulouse to complete his studies. A brilliant student, he became a lawyer in 1918 and worked with César Campinchi, a lawyer who later became an influential politician. He joined the Radical Party and became the deputy for French Guiana in 1932. He was Secretary of State in Charge of the French Colonies (1937-1938), becoming the first colored man to be hold a position in the French government. During WWII, he served in the French Navy, on the Provence armored battleship. He was demobilized on July 17, 1940 and therefore did not vote the full powers to Philippe Pétain. He protested against the armistice signed by Pétain with the German authorities, and complained about the treatment of persons from overseas territories by the Vichy Régime. In winter 1940, he joined the Combat resistance organization. As a lawyer in Marseilles, he defended persons sued by the Vichy for their opinion or their racial origin. This resulted in many threats and arrests by the French police. After the invasion of the "free zone" he became active in the Maquis of Auvergne.

A member of the resistance, he was put in charge of preparing the status of the DOM-TOM. He became Senator for Lot in 1948 and was elected President of the French Senate in 1959.

Though he had been influential in helping Charles de Gaulle in returning to power, he was critical of the latter's political orientations and dissolution of the Fourth Republic.

From 1977 to 1983, he was a member of the Constitutional Council of France.

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