De Gaulle's Return To Power (29 May 1958)
On 29 May the French President, René Coty, appealed to the “most illustrious of Frenchmen” to become the last President of the Council (Prime Minister) of the Fourth Republic — fifteen hours before the projected launch of Resurrection. De Gaulle had accepted Coty's proposal under the precondition that a new constitution would be introduced creating a powerful presidency in which a sole executive, the first of which was to be himself, ruled for seven-year periods. Another condition was that he be granted extraordinary powers for a period of six months.
His newly formed cabinet was approved by the National Assembly on 1 June 1958, by 329 votes against 224, while he was granted the power to govern by ordinances for a six-month period as well as the task to draft a new Constitution.
The May 1958 crisis indicated that the Fourth Republic by 1958 no longer had any support from the French army in Algeria, and was at its mercy even in civilian political matters. This decisive shift in the balance of power in civil-military relations in France in 1958 and the threat of force was the main immediate factor in the return of de Gaulle to power in France.
Read more about this topic: May 1958 Crisis
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