Five presidents in 1943: Lebanon on its 80th Independence Dayhttps://en.majalla.com/node/304906/documents-memoirs/five-presidents-1943-lebanon-its-80th-independence-day
Five presidents in 1943: Lebanon on its 80th Independence Day
The incredible true story of how Lebanon gained its independence, including its new flag as we know it – primitively coloured, and smuggled in a police officer’s underwear.
Al Majalla
Lebanon... five presidents in one year.
Five presidents in 1943: Lebanon on its 80th Independence Day
The year 1943 kicked off with an avalanche of congratulatory telegrams pouring into President Alfred Naccache’s office on the New Year.
Little did he know that his tenure, which began in 1941, would soon be coming to an abrupt end – and that no less than four people would succeed him in the presidency, within less than a year.
This made for a total of five heads of state in twelve months.
Today, the picture is very different. Exactly eight decades later, Lebanon is suffering from a vacant presidential seat, left open since the end of Michel Aoun’s term in October 2022. The transition of power in 1943, in contrast, showcases how healthy Lebanon’s democracy had once been, not too long ago.
At the time, the Lebanese presidency was not restricted to Maronite Christians, either. The first president of the country was Charles Dabbas, a Greek Orthodox attorney, succeeded by a Protestant lawyer.
In 1936, Sheikh Mohammad al-Jisr, a Sunni Muslim notable from Tripoli, even nominated himself for the presidential office, though he did not succeed.
Below, we revisit the incredible events of 1943, as we mark the country’s 80th Independence Day.
In 1943, Lebanon witnessed a total of five heads of state in twelve months. Exactly eight decades later, the country is suffering from a vacant presidential seat, left open since the end of Michel Aoun's term in October 2022.
From Alfred Naccache to Bechara el-Khoury (January – September 1943)
After Naccache's tenure ended, he was replaced by Protestant lawyer Ayyub Thabet on 18 March 1943.
He ruled Lebanon for a total of 145 days, during which he laid the framework for a new parliamentary law that divided the Chamber of Deputies into 32 seats for Christians, versus 22 for Muslims.
Lebanese expatriates (mostly Christians) were also allowed to vote, and they made up approximately 160,000 of the population in the early 1940s. Lebanon's Muslims opposed Thabet's proposal, claiming that expatriates were not entitled to vote given that they didn't pay taxes in their home country.
On 22 July 1943, he resigned from his post and was replaced by yet another lawyer, this time a Greek Orthodox named Petro Trad. He was the country's third president since January 1943.
President Trad set on amending his predecessor's legislation, fixing the number of parliamentary seats at 55, reducing the Christian quota to 30 and raising the Muslim one to 25. He also scrapped the law that allowed expat voting.
During his short tenure as president, parliamentary elections were held followed by presidential ones, which were contested by ex-president Émile Eddé. and ex-prime minister Bechara el-Khoury, both being Maronite heavyweights.
Although Eddé was an all-time French favourite, el-Khoury went on to win those elections and become president on 21 September 1943.
An old-school lawyer from a middle-class Christian family, el-Khoury had spent the First World War in Egypt, returning to serve as a three-time premier under the French Mandate. He founded a political party that called for Lebanon's independence and sought integration within the broader Arab World.
That stood in sharp contrast to everything his archrival Eddé had stood for. Like el-Khoury, he too had spent the Great War in Cairo and the two men had been candidates for the presidential elections of 1936.
Eddé believed in Lebanon as a national home for its Christians, claiming that the country was unique – both culturally and ethnically different and distant from other states in the Arab World.
Former Lebanese president Emile Eddé believed in Lebanon as a national home for its Christians, claiming that the country was unique – both culturally and ethnically different and distant from other states in the Arab World.
The el-Khoury – Eddé Rivalry
Unlike Eddé, who was well-known for his Christian nationalism, el-Khoury came across as more cross-sectarian and always strove to build bridges with Lebanese Muslims.
During his first round of the presidency in the 1930s, Eddé had allegedly said: "Lebanon is a Christian country; let the Muslims move to Mecca."
Those words were handed down by word of mouth in Lebanon, though there is no documentation to prove them. Nonetheless, they do reflect Eddé's views and attitude towards the country's large and prosperous Muslim community.
Back in 1936, he had famously floated the idea of giving the northern city of Tripoli special status under the mandate, granting its Christians Lebanese nationality while offering to make its Muslims citizens of neighbouring Syria.
Lebanese protesters chant national songs during an anti-government demonstration in downtown Beirut, on November 3, 2019. - Unprecedented cross-sectarian demonstrations have gripped Lebanon since October 17.
The Muslims of Tripoli made up approximately 55,000 back then and Eddé hoped that by granting them Syrian passports he would reduce Lebanon's Muslim population.
He also suggested granting the Lebanese south special sovereignty, like the one granted to the Alawite and Druze Mountains in Syria, which would have also relieved him of the burden of 140,000 Muslims, made up of Sunnis and Shiites.
These ideas made him an enemy of Lebanon's Muslims, who rallied rank and file to make sure that he was not re-elected president in 1943.
The single most important achievement during el-Khoury's presidency was the National Pact of 1943, a verbal gentlemen's agreement between the president and his prime minister, Riad al-Solh.
It laid the groundwork for future co-existence in Lebanon, dividing the country's three top posts along sectarian lines where the presidency would go to a Maronite Christian, the premiership to a Sunni Muslim, and the speakership of parliament to Shiite Muslim.
The single most important achievement during el-Khoury's presidency was the National Pact of 1943. It divided the country's three top posts along sectarian lines where the presidency would go to a Maronite Christian, the premiership to a Sunni Muslim, and the speakership of parliament to Shiite Muslim.
This would be generally observed by all consecutive governments. It was first breached in 1947, when Habib Abu Shahla, a Greek Orthodox man, became speaker of parliament, and again in 1988 when Aoun, a Maronite Christian, became prime minister.
Showdown with the French
Two months into his term, President el-Khoury engaged in a confrontation with the French after ratifying a series of amendments to the Lebanese Constitution.
These changes ended France's legislative hegemony over the country and made Arabic the official language of Lebanon.
There was also a motion to adopt a new flag for Lebanon, disassociating it from France.
Members of the Lebanese security forces take part in a military parade for Independence Day celebrations marking 75 years since the end of France's mandate in Lebanon, on November 22, 2018.
This came after Eddé, along with former presidents Thabet and Naccache, had suggested making it a replica of the French tricolour; the Lebanese Flag under the mandate had looked much like the French one, with the Lebanese Cedar at its centre, but el-Khoury wanted it free of any French influence.
A parliamentary majority supported his bid, while Eddé and his bloc (a total of 11 MPs) rejected it; when the resolution passed, he fumed out of the chamber and grumbled in French (according to the memoirs of future prime minister Sa'eb Salam): "I refuse to be part of this garbage dump."
The president's arrest
Following President el-Khoury's ratification, he was arrested by the French, along with Prime Minister al-Solh, on 11 November 1943.
Also jailed were Interior Minister Camille Chamoun, Foreign Minister Habib Abu Shahla, and Trade Minister Adel Osseiran.
Happy to see him gone, the French swiftly appointed the ever-ready Eddé as both president and prime minister, making him Lebanon's fifth and last president in 1943.
Public outcry prevented him from forming a government, however, and he was boycotted by the country's political elite, who considered el-Khoury's arrest, and Eddé's willingness to assume office under such humiliating circumstances, an assault on the country's constitution and an insult to its core foundations.
Spontaneous demonstrations broke out throughout the country, which the French forcefully suppressed, killing 18 people in one day. A handful of MPs managed to break through French security around parliament only to find it locked behind chains.
They broke through its doors nonetheless, and under the sound of gunfire, seven of them held an extraordinary session condemning the arrest of their president and drawing up a new flag for Lebanon (which became its current rendition).
It was coloured in a primitive manner and then smuggled out of the building through a police officer, Halim Ghargour, who hid it in his underwear.
The Bekka MP Henri Pharaoun pledged to secure Christian support for the new flag, while Beirut MP Salam promised to do the same with Lebanese Muslims.
By the end of the day, and under heavy pressure from Great Britan, France was forced to release the Lebanese president and his team from jail in the Rashayya Citadel on 22 November 1943.
Ever since, that date has been marked as Lebanon's official Independence Day.
