Camille Chamoun

This article is part of a series on
Maronite politics
People Samir Geagea Émile Eddé Bechara El Khoury Alfred Naqqache Camille Chamoun Suleiman Frangieh Pierre Gemayel Bachir Gemayel Amine Gemayel Michel Aoun Gebran Bassil
Families Chamoun Frangieh Gemayel Khazen Moawad
Parties Lebanese Forces National Bloc Constitutional Bloc Kataeb National Liberal Marada Movement Free Patriotic Movement
Resistance Lebanese Forces (Lebanese Resistance) Kataeb Regulatory Forces Tigers Al-Tanzim Guardians of the Cedars
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Camille Nimr Chamoun

When President Bechara El Khoury was forced to resign because of corruption allegations in 1952, Chamoun was elected to replace him.

During Chamoun's presidency, Lebanon experienced an economic boom, in particular in the construction, banking and tourism sectors.^[6] He implemented a 1954 law on the creation of joint-stock companies and a 1956 law on banking secrecy.^[6] According to Fawwaz Traboulsi, Chamoun concentrated power into his hands, blurring the limits of democracy and autocracy.^[6]

Crisis of 1958

Near the end of his term, Pan-Arabists and other groups backed by

Founding National Liberal Party

On his retirement from the presidency, Chamoun founded the National Liberal Party (al-Ahrar). As its leader, Chamoun was elected to the National Assembly again in 1960, much to the consternation of Chehab. He was defeated in 1964 because of changes to the boundaries of his electoral district, which he and his supporters protested as deliberate gerrymandering. He was re-elected to the National Assembly, however, in 1968, and again in 1972, Lebanon's last parliamentary election in his lifetime. After the election of 1968, the National Liberal Party held 11 seats out of 99, becoming the largest single party in the notoriously fractured National Assembly. It was the only political party to elect representatives from all of Lebanon's major religious confessions.

Civil War

In the 1970s and 1980s, Chamoun served in a variety of portfolios in the cabinet, including interior minister.

On March 12 1980, In Dora, Mount Lebanon, a remote-controlled bomb exploded near the car of Camille Chamoun. One bodyguard was killed while Chamoun, his driver, another bodyguard and a passerby suffered minor injuries.^[11]

In 1980, the NLP's Tigers militia was virtually destroyed by

In 1985, 5 people were killed and 23 injured in a suicide attack during a meeting between Christian parties in the St. Georges Monastery in Beirut which was aimed at the five main leaders of the Christian factions of the war. A Christian group called "the Vanguard of Arab Christians" was named as responsible for the attack.[12] Another assassination attempt occurred again on January 7, 1987 which killed 6 people and wounded 40 others when 165 pounds of explosives was detonated as Chamoun passed through East Beirut in the morning.^[13][14][15]

Personal life

In 1930 he married Zelpha (or Zalfa) Tabet with whom he had two sons, Dany and Dory, both of whom became politicians in the NLP.^[8]

In 1984 Chamoun agreed to join the National Unity government as deputy prime minister, which he held until his death on 7 August 1987, at the age of 87.

• Chamoun family

References