He returned to Paris in triumph on August 26, finally establishing himself as the symbol of liberated France. When civil war threatened in 1958, following a seizure of power by army leaders in Algeria, de Gaulle was called upon to form a national government and was elected president of the Fifth Republic on December 21. De Gaulle was reelected to the presidency in 1965 and, after a massive strike and student unrest, again in 1968. After his proposals for reform of the Senate were rejected in a referendum in April 1969, he resigned and returned to private life. Charles de Gaulle Brief biography of de Gaulle, with notes on his residency at Versailles.
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