President Gaston Monnerville : What consequences on western culture ?

[galileo-034]

Gaston Monnerville was born in French Guiana from parents with slave ancestry and made his way through the institutions of the 4th Republic to become President of the Senate, position he retained until October 1968. Just a few months after, de Gaulle resigned, making Alain poher, Monnerville's successor, acting president pending special presidential election. In a matter of months, we almost could have seen a citizen of African ancestry becoming head of state of one of the major western powers, not long after the United States were shaken by the issue of civil rights.

A simple POD would be Monnerville staying longer to be in charge at the time de Gaulle resigns.
A more significant, culturally and psychologically, would be de Gaulle dying in a helicopter crash on his way to Germany (IOTL he went missing a few days in the midst of the May 68 crisis, in fact going to visit French troops in Germany). That would not be much significant since in all likeliness, as it was Pompidou intent, the Assembly would have been dissolved and return a strong gaullist majority, while a special presidential election would still see Pompidou elected president a year earlier (but he still dies on schedule).
The psychological and cultural impact is about the shock that in the midst of a major crisis with revolutionary accents, de Gaulle dies in mysterious circumstances, a non ethnic French (and of slave ancestry) as Monnerville becomes acting president, 40 years before Obama, even it's only for two months.

 

[DTF955Baseballfan]

Would this have been before or after the Black Power salute at the '68 Games? I could imagine the athletes instead wearing pins with French flags. It would be interesting to see US athletes holding small French flags and then the debate centering on the fact that, "Hey, it's okay as long as the American flag flies higher than any other."

 

[Archibald]

Monnerville is indeed a great whatif of French politics. Another way of making him president would be Petit Clamart succeed and De Gaulle dying in 1962.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Monnerville
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Monnerville

The black power salute was in October 1968.

Checking the French wikipedia I found this

En 1953, lors de l'élection présidentielle indécise, c'est René Coty qui est élu président de la République, alors même que la tradition sous la troisième et quatrième république était d'élire dans ces cas-là le président du Conseil de la République (ancien Sénat), alors Gaston Monnerville. Mais, selon son biographe Jean-Paul Brunet, la couleur de peau de Monnerville joue en sa défaveur2.

Looks like Monnerville (already president of the Senate back then !) could have been president of the Fourth republic instead of René Coty but was passed on because of the color of his skin.

Now that could make for an amazing TL: President Monnerville 1953-58, then De Gaulle creates the 5th Republic only to be assassinated at the Petit Clamart, and zap, second round for Monnerville 1962-69.

Monnerville and De Gaulle knew each others pretty well, and it seems that as president of the Senate Monnerville helped De Gaulle returns to power in 1958.

By the way, Monnerville was deputy from French Guyana, hence Kourou. It could make for some amazing rocketpunk TL: Monnerville saves the ELDO/ ESRO / Europa rocket back in 1961, leading to Arianespace-like success ten years earlier. and perhaps an european manned space program (akin to that great TL The Selene project)

Crap, another TL to write in two days, as if the Brazilian invasion of French Guiana wasn't enough. There is something in the air with French Guiana thse days )

Or perhaps I could mix the two: Quadros invades French Guyana, De Gaulle invades only to be shot at Petit Clamart, hence President Monnerville to finish the job.

 

[joho6411]

Gaston Monnerville was born in French Guiana from parents with slave ancestry and made his way through the institutions of the 4th Republic to become President of the Senate, position he retained until October 1968. Just a few months after, de Gaulle resigned, making Alain poher, Monnerville's successor, acting president pending special presidential election. In a matter of months, we almost could have seen a citizen of African ancestry becoming head of state of one of the major western powers, not long after the United States were shaken by the issue of civil rights.

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A simple POD would be Monnerville staying longer to be in charge at the time de Gaulle resigns.
A more significant, culturally and psychologically, would be de Gaulle dying in a helicopter crash on his way to Germany (IOTL he went missing a few days in the midst of the May 68 crisis, in fact going to visit French troops in Germany). That would not be much significant since in all likeliness, as it was Pompidou intent, the Assembly would have been dissolved and return a strong gaullist majority, while a special presidential election would still see Pompidou elected president a year earlier (but he still dies on schedule).
The psychological and cultural impact is about the shock that in the midst of a major crisis with revolutionary accents, de Gaulle dies in mysterious circumstances, a non ethnic French (and of slave ancestry) as Monnerville becomes acting president, 40 years before Obama, even it's only for two months.

Hmmm...gives me some good ideas...

Three cheers Galileo, Joho

 

[David T]

I honestly don't think it would have much effect. He would only be president very briefly, and his presidency would have little long-term consequence in France, and practically none at all on racial attitudes in the US..

 

[galileo-034]

Only two months indeed without much political differences with what happened IOTL (Pompidou is elected president barely a year ahead of schedule) but a black president in France, which is a military nuclear power, it's not something to take lightly, it would be a cultural shock as much as was May 1968 for French cultural developments in the following decade (in terms of counter culture). Monnerville would for sure become a symbol.
There is also that with de Gaulle dying in such circumstances as a crash, while he disappeared (it seems even Pompidou was not knowing what de Gaulle was up to, where he disappeared), we would hve France having its own version of the Kennedy assassination's conspiracy theories spreading.

As for the Petit Clamart assassination attempt, that's another kind of story that deserves some exploration, but that happens in a totally different context we have here.

 

[Archibald]

The interesting thing with President Monnerville instead of René Coty, 1953 - 1958: it would have zero powers (4th republic), so history would proceed more or less as per OTL, including the Algerian war and De Gaulle's return.

 

[galileo-034]

Well, as you pointed out, even if there wasn't in France an as strong anti black racism as there was in the USA, there was no much chance the parliamant elected someone like Monnerville as president. In the conditions we evoke, de Gaulle assassinated in 1962 or dying in a crash in 1968, Monnerville becomes president by accident.

Under the 4th Republic, he wouldn't have any power, and under the 5th, he wouldn't stand a chance at getting elected if he ever choose to run (or maybe I am underestimating the advancement of black rights in France by this time, am I?).

Essentially, as President of the Senate and Acting President of the Republic, Monnerville's role in the process would be to manage the transition and the special presidential elections for two months, so there isn't much to do.
But I wonder if it would be possible for Monnerville to make a state visit to the United States in the meantime, be received by Johnson at the White House as the President of France, even if the status is temporary, and see what consequences it would have on the American politics and culture to see a Black head of state of one of the main global powers (relatively to its nuclear military power and its permanent seat in the UN security council, as I guess that in terms of actual power, France is well behind others).

Already, the following suggestion is an interesting development.

Would this have been before or after the Black Power salute at the '68 Games? I could imagine the athletes instead wearing pins with French flags. It would be interesting to see US athletes holding small French flags and then the debate centering on the fact that, "Hey, it's okay as long as the American flag flies higher than any other."

 

[jolou]

But I wonder if it would be possible for Monnerville to make a state visit to the United States in the meantime, be received by Johnson at the White House as the President of France, even if the status is temporary, and see what consequences it would have on the American politics and culture to see a Black head of state of one of the main global powers (relatively to its nuclear military power and its permanent seat in the UN security council, as I guess that in terms of actual power, France is well behind others).

Well, sure France is behind the US and URSS but after ? Remember (if Monnerville become president in 68) that France is Also the third country to have put a sattelite in orbit and have a good economy. So, France is either Third or Four (Or maybe equal to the UK) in the rate of world power because well there isn't much challenger otherwise .
And i would like a Monnerville visit to the US to see the reaction of the south

 

[David T]

Well, sure France is behind the US and URSS but after ? Remember (if Monnerville become president in 68) that France is Also the third country to have put a sattelite in orbit and have a good economy. So, France is either Third or Four (Or maybe equal to the UK) in the rate of world power because well there isn't much challenger otherwise .
And i would like a Monnerville visit to the US to see the reaction of the south

The reaction would be for the most part "who cares?" Black heads of state visiting the US and being received at the White House were hardly a novelty by 1968, anyway, and most Americans did not take France very seriously as a world power. There was a vague impression in the US that European countries were more liberal on matters of race than Americans, but this impression had very little effect on Americans' own racial attitudes.

Once again, the impact of a short-lived presidency of a black man in France would be zero in the US, except for some brief, and soon-forgotten, curiosity. Though I could see some people arguing here that the young Barack Obama was first inspired to seek the presidency when as a boy he heard about Monnerville's, and might never have run for POTUS without this inspiration.

 

[galileo-034]

Though I could see some people arguing here that the young Barack Obama was first inspired to seek the presidency when as a boy he heard about Monnerville's, and might never have run for POTUS without this inspiration.

At least, that's a beginning.