Habib Bourguiba

Habib Bourguiba (3 August 1903 – 6 April 2000) was a Tunisian politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of the Kingdom of Tunisia from 1956 to 1957, and then as the first president of Tunisia from 1957 to 1987. Prior to his presidency, he led the nation to independence from France, ending the 75-year-old protectorate and earning the title of "Supreme Combatant".

Born in Monastir to a poor family, he attended Sadiki College and Lycée Carnot in Tunis before obtaining his baccalaureate in 1924. He graduated from the University of Paris and the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) in 1927 and returned to Tunis to practice law. In the early 1930s, he became involved in anti-colonial and Tunisian national politics, joining the Destour party and co-founding the Neo Destour in 1934. He became a key figure of the independence movement and was repeatedly arrested by the colonial administration. His involvement in the riots of 9 April 1938 resulted in his exile to Marseille during World War II.

In 1945, following Bourguiba's release, he moved to Cairo, Egypt to seek the support of the Arab League. He returned to Tunisia in 1949 and rose to prominence as the leader of the national movement. Although initially committed to peaceful negotiations with the French government, he had an effective role in the armed unrest that started in 1952 when they proved to be unsuccessful. He was arrested and imprisoned on La Galite Island for two years, before being exiled in France. There, he led negotiations with Prime Minister Pierre Mendès France and obtained internal autonomy agreements in exchange for the end of the unrest. Bourguiba returned victorious to Tunis on 1 June 1955, but was challenged by Salah Ben Youssef for the party leader position. Ben Youssef and his supporters disagreed with Bourguiba's "soft" policies and demanded full independence of the Maghreb. This resulted in a civil war that pitted Bourguibists, who favored a gradual policy and modernism, against Youssefists, the conservative Arab nationalist supporters of Ben Youssef. The conflict ended in favor of Bourguiba with the Sfax Congress of 1955.