Charles Helou (
Arabic: شارل الحلو) (
September 25 1913-7 January 2001) was
President of
Lebanon from
1964 to
1970.
Born in
Beirut, Helou was the scion of a powerful
Maronite family from
Baabda. He graduated with honours from
St. Joseph's University in Beirut in
1929, and went on to complete a Law degree in
1934. Helou was also a successful businessman and founded two
French language newspapers,
L'Eclair du Nord and
Le Jour. In
1936, he made his first foray into
politics, when he joined with
Pierre Gemayel and three others in launching the
Kataeb (Phalangist) Party. Differences with Gemayel later led Helou to quit the party, however.
Helou's first governmental appointment was as Ambassador to the
Vatican in
1947. He later served in the Cabinet as Minister of Justice and Health (
1954-1955) and as Minister of Education (
1964). A protégé of
Fuad Chehab, he was chosen by the
National Assembly to succeed him as President in
1964.
The impressive
economic growth that characterized Helou's presidency was marred by the
Intra Bank crisis of
1966 and Lebanon's increasing inability to avoid involvement in the
Arab-Israeli conflict. The
Six Day War of
1967, in which
Israel won a decisive victory over its
Arab neighbours, strained sectarian relations in Lebanon. Many
Muslims wanted Lebanon to join the Arab war effort, while many Christians wished to eschew participation. Helou managed to keep Lebanon from entanglement, apart from a brief air strike, but found it impossible to put the lid on the tensions that had been raised. Parliamentary elections in
1968 revealed an increasing polarization in the country, with two major
coalitions, one pro-Arab and led by
Rashid Karami and the other pro-Western and led jointly by former President
Camille Chamoun, Pierre Gemayel, and
Raymond Eddé, both made major gains and won 30 of the 99 seats each.
In addition, government authority was challenged by the presence of armed
Palestinian guerrillas in the south of the country, and clashes between the Lebanese
army and the
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) became increasingly frequent. For a long time, Helou resisted their demands, but in
1969, after failing to end the rebellion militarily, he finally gave in and signed the
Cairo Agreement, which permitted Palestinian guerrillas to launch raids into Israel from bases inside Lebanon, hoping that they would confine their operations to cross-border attacks against Israel and would stop challenging the Lebanese government. As it turned out, the clashes only intensified.
In
1970, Helou endorsed
Elias Sarkis as his chosen successor, but he lost the election in the National Assembly by one vote to
Suleiman Frangieh. Unlike other former Presidents, who remained politically active after retirement, Helou faded from the scene. He was involved in a philanthropic venture, founding a number of restaurants to provide free hot meals to elderly people.
Helou died of a heart attack on
January 7, 2001. He was 87.
