On January 8th 1959 Charles de Gaulle became the first President of the Fifth French Republic.

De Gaulle was the leader of the Free French during World War II and, after the war, became the leader of the Provisional Government.

Following the collapse of the Fourth French Republic in 1958 due to the Algiers Crisis, de Gaulle returned from retirement asking that government be suspended. Supported by the army, the Fourth Republic ended. Later that year, de Gaulle was elected President of the Fifth Republic, taking office early in 1959.

Image: Bundesarchiv, B 145 Bild-F010324-0002 / Steiner, Egon / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-F010324-0002,_Flughafen_K%C3%B6ln-Bonn,_Adenauer,_de_Gaulle-cropped.jpg)