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Béchara El-Khoury

His Excellency
Bechara el Khoury
بشارة الخوري

OM, ONC
Bechara elkhoury.jpg
Bechara El Khoury's Presidential portrait, 1943.
1st President of Lebanon
In office
22 November 1943 – 18 September 1952
Prime Minister Riad Al Solh,
Abdul Hamid Karami,
Sami as-Solh,
Saadi Al Munla,
Hussein Al Oweini,
Abdallah El-Yafi,
Nazem Akkari,
Saeb Salam
Succeeded by Camille Chamoun
6th President of the Greater Lebanon
In office
21 September 1943 – 11 November 1943
Preceded by Petro Trad
Succeeded by Émile Eddé
2nd Prime Minister of the Greater Lebanon
In office
5 May 1927 – 10 August 1928
Preceded by Auguste Adib Pacha
Succeeded by Habib Pacha Es-Saad
In office
9 May 1929 – 11 October 1929
Preceded by Habib Pacha Es-Saad
Succeeded by Émile Eddé
Personal details
Born (1890-08-10)10 August 1890
Rechmaya, Aley District, Ottoman Lebanon
Died 1 January 1964(1964-01-01) (aged 73)
Beirut, Lebanon
Political party Constitutional Bloc
Religion Maronite Church

Bechara El Khoury (10 August 1890 – 1 January 1964 in Rechmaya) (Arabic: بشارة الخوري‎‎) was the first post-independence President of Lebanon, holding office from 21 September 1943 to 18 September 1952, apart from an 11-day interruption (11–22 November) in 1943. He had previously served two brief terms as Prime Minister, from 5 May 1927 to 10 August 1928 and from 9 May to 11 October 1929.

Khoury was born in Rechmaya, to Lebanese Maronite Christian parents in a town in the Aley district, Mount Lebanon governorate on 10 August 1890. He studied law.

Khoury founded the Constitutional Bloc and served as a Cabinet minister prior to his election as President on 21 September 1943. He was a strong nationalist who opposed the French Mandate, and on 11 November 1943, he was arrested by Free French troops and imprisoned in the Rashaya Tower for eleven days, along with Riad Al Solh (the Prime Minister), Pierre Gemayel, Camille Chamoun, and numerous other personalities who were to dominate politics in the generation following independence.

Massive demonstrations forced the Free French forces to release the prisoners, including Khoury, on 22 November 1943, a date now celebrated as Lebanon's national independence day.


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