{{Short description|French politician (1897–1991)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Gaston Monnerville | image = Gaston Monnerville.jpg | image_size = | office = Member of the [[Constitutional Council (France)|Constitutional Council]] | term_start = 5 March 1974 | term_end = 3 March 1983 | predecessor = François Luchaire | successor = Léon Jozeau-Marigné | appointer = [[Alain Poher]] | president = [[Roger Frey]] | office1 = [[List of presidents of the Senate of France|President of the Senate]] | term_start1 = 9 December 1958 | term_end1 = 2 October 1968 | predecessor1 = ''Himself''<br>{{small|(as President of the Council of Republic)}} | successor1 = [[Alain Poher]] | office2 = [[Council of the Republic (France)|President of the Council of the Republic]] | term_start2 = 18 March 1947 | term_end2 = 2 October 1958 | predecessor2 = [[Auguste Champetier de Ribes]] | successor2 = ''Himself''<br>{{small|(as President of the Senate)}} | birth_date = 2 January 1897 | birth_place = [[Cayenne]], French Guiana | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1991|11|7|1897|1|2}} | death_place = [[16th arrondissement of Paris]], France | signature = Signature de Gaston Monnerville - Archives nationales (France).png | party = [[Radical Party (France)|Radical Party]] | alma_mater = [[University of Toulouse]] | occupation = [[Lawyer]] | caption = Monnerville in 1947 }} '''Gaston Monnerville''' (2 January 1897 – 7 November 1991) was a French [[Radical Party (France)|Radical]] politician and lawyer who served as the first [[List of presidents of the Senate of France|President of the Senate]] under the [[French Fifth Republic|Fifth Republic]] from 1958 to 1968.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.assembleenationale.fr/histoire/biographies/IVRepublique/monnerville-gaston-02011897.asp|title=Biography in French on the website of the Assemblée Nationale|website=www.assembleenationale.fr|language=FR|access-date=2008-03-22|archive-date=2011-07-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718101212/http://www.assembleenationale.fr/histoire/biographies/IVRepublique/monnerville-gaston-02011897.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref> He previously served as President of the [[Council of the Republic (France)|Council of the Republic]] from 1947 to 1958. A member of the [[French Resistance]] in [[World War II]], he is the first black person to preside over a national parliamentary body in French history.
==Early life== The grandson of a slave on his mother's side, Monnerville grew up in [[French Guiana]] and went to [[Toulouse School of Law]] to complete his undergraduate and doctoral studies on [[restitution and unjust enrichment]]. A brilliant student, he became a lawyer in 1918 and worked with [[César Campinchi]], a lawyer who later became an influential politician.
== Political and military career == [[File:Monnerville-Député-1932.jpg|thumb|left|Monnerville as a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1932]] After joining the [[Radical Party (France)|Radical Party]], Monnerville was elected a member of the [[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Chamber of Deputies]] for [[French Guiana]] in [[1932 French legislative election|1932]]. He was reelected in [[1936 French legislative election|1936]]. He was Undersecretary of State for Colonies in the government of Prime Minister [[Camille Chautemps]] of 1937–1938.
=== WWII and French Resistance === During the first part of [[World War II]], he served in the [[French Navy]], on the [[battleship]] ''[[French battleship Provence|Provence]]''. He was not demobilized until 17 July 1940, well after the French defeat by [[Nazi Germany]], and therefore did not get to vote on the grant of [[Vichy 80|dictatorial powers]] to [[Philippe Pétain|Marshal Pétain]]. He protested against the [[Armistice with France (Second Compiègne)|armistice]] signed by Pétain, and complained about the treatment of French colonial subjects by Petain's [[Vichy France|Vichy]] government. In late 1940, he joined ''[[Combat (French Resistance)|Combat]]'', one of the major groups in the [[French Resistance|resistance]]. As a lawyer in [[Marseille]], in unoccupied France, he defended persons arrested or persecuted by the Vichy government for their opinions or racial origin. For this he was repeatedly threatened or arrested by the Vichy police.
When Germany occupied the rest of France in 1942, he went underground and joined the ''[[Maquis (World War II)|Maquis]]'' of [[Auvergne (region)|Auvergne]], as "Commandant St-Just". He and his wife Cheylade established a military hospital in June 1944.
That fall he was demobilized, before was appointed by the Radical Party to sit in the [[Provisional Consultative Assembly]] of the restored government.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.franceguyane.fr/actualite/politique/exposition-sur-gaston-monnerville-458374.php|title = Exposition sur Gaston Monnerville - Toute l'actualité de la Guyane sur Internet - FranceGuyane.fr| date=15 December 2013 |access-date=September 5, 2025 }}</ref>
=== Postwar political career === In 1945, he was appointed chairman of a commission to determine the future status of the [[Overseas departments and territories of France|French colonies]]. In October 1945, he was elected Delegate from French Guiana to the [[First Constituent Assembly]] of the [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]], and to the [[Second Constituent Assembly]] in April 1946. Also in 1946, he was a French delegate to the first session of the [[United Nations]]. He was defeated for election to the [[Third Constituent Assembly]] in November 1946, in part because some Guianese objected to his efforts to close the prison colony of [[Devil's Island]].
Instead he was named to the [[Council of the Republic (France)|Council of the Republic of France]] (the [[Senate (France)|Senate]]), which was being reconstituted by appointments. He was immediately elected President of this Council, and became one of the most active members of the Senate. In March 1947, he was chosen President of the Council, by a vote of 141 to 131 over the [[Communism|Communist]] candidate.
In 1948, he changed his residence from Guiana to [[Lot (department)|Lot]], and was elected Senator there. He served as Senator from Lot and President of the Council until the end of the Fourth Republic in 1958.
In 1958, Monnerville supported [[Charles de Gaulle]] in returning to power, but he objected to De Gaulle's dissolution of the Fourth Republic. However, when the Fifth Republic was established, he resumed his place in the Senate (now called by that name); he was elected President of the Senate (the second highest-ranking official in France after the President) in 1959, serving until 1968.
In 1962, he famously opposed the [[1962 French presidential election referendum|referendum altering the constitution]] for changing the method of election of the president to a direct election, instead of an [[electoral college]], on grounds that the method for constitutional amendments was not respected, a reform strongly desired by Charles de Gaulle. The [[Constitutional Council (France)|Constitutional Council]] however ruled itself "incompetent" to strike down a reform voted by the French people.<ref>Alec Stone, ''The Birth of Judicial Politics in France: The Constitutional Council in Comparative Perspective'', Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-507034-8}}, chapter III</ref> He went as far as to use the strong word of ''forfaiture'' ("abuse of authority") against the behaviour of Prime Minister [[Georges Pompidou]], who had accepted to sign the referendum project.<ref>[[Senate (France)|French Senate]], ''[http://www.senat.fr/evenement/archives/D23/1962.html Le conflit du référendum de 1962]''</ref><ref>[http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jopdf/common/jo_pdf.jsp?numJO=0&dateJO=19621003&pageDebut=09522&pageFin=&pageCourante=09522 Decree 62-1127 of 2 October 1962], preceded by a letter from Prime Minister [[Georges Pompidou]] to President Charles de Gaulle proposing him to submit to a referendum. Following article 11 of the Constitution, a bill changing the method for electing the President of France.</ref>
From 1974 to 1983, he was a member of the [[Constitutional Council (France)|Constitutional Council of France]].
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category-inline}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=[[Auguste Champetier de Ribes]]}} {{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Council of the Republic (France)|Council of the Republic]]|years=1947–1958}} {{s-non|reason=Formation of the [[French Fifth Republic|Fifth Republic]]}} |- {{s-non|reason=End of the [[French Fourth Republic|Fourth Republic]]}} {{s-ttl|title=President of the [[Senate (France)|Senate]]|years=1958–1968}} {{s-aft|after=[[Alain Poher]]}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=[[François Luchaire]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of the [[Constitutional Council (France)|Constitutional Council]]|years=1974–1983}} {{s-aft|after=[[Léon Jozeau-Marigné]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monnerville, Gaston}} [[Category:1897 births]] [[Category:1991 deaths]] [[Category:People from Cayenne]] [[Category:French people of Martiniquais descent]] [[Category:French people of French Guianan descent]] [[Category:Black French politicians]] [[Category:Radical Party (France) politicians]] [[Category:Radical Party of the Left politicians]] [[Category:Members of the 15th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic]] [[Category:Members of the 16th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic]] [[Category:Members of the Provisional Consultative Assembly]] [[Category:Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1945)]] [[Category:Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1946)]] [[Category:Members of Parliament for French Guiana]] [[Category:French senators of the Fourth Republic]] [[Category:French senators of the Fifth Republic]] [[Category:Senators of French Guiana]] [[Category:Senators of Lot (department)]] [[Category:Presidents of the Senate (France)]] [[Category:Presidents of French departments]] [[Category:Departmental councillors (France)]] [[Category:Mayors of places in Occitania (administrative region)]] [[Category:Mayors of Cayenne]] [[Category:20th-century French lawyers]] [[Category:University of Toulouse alumni]] [[Category:French military personnel of World War II]] [[Category:French Resistance members]] [[Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour]] [[Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France)]] [[Category:Recipients of the Resistance Medal]] [[Category:Members of the Constitutional Council (France)]] [[Category:French recipients of the Legion of Honour]]