His Excellency Bechara el Khoury بشارة الخوري OM, ONC |
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Bechara El Khoury's Presidential portrait, 1943.
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6th President of Lebanon | |
In office 22 November 1943 – 18 September 1952 |
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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 |
In office 21 September 1943 – 11 November 1943 |
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Preceded by | Petro Trad |
Succeeded by | Émile Eddé |
2nd Prime Minister of Lebanon | |
In office 5 May 1927 – 10 August 1928 |
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Preceded by | Auguste Adib Pacha |
Succeeded by | Habib Pacha Es-Saad |
In office 9 May 1929 – 11 October 1929 |
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Preceded by | Habib Pacha Es-Saad |
Succeeded by | Émile Eddé |
Personal details | |
Born |
Rechmaya, Aley District, Ottoman Lebanon |
10 August 1890
Died | 11 January 1964 Beirut, Lebanon |
(aged 73)
Political party | Constitutional Bloc |
Bechara El Khoury (10 August 1890 – 11 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.