page_title: Boutros el-Khoury
section_title: Political activity
hierarchical_section_title: Boutros el-Khoury / Political activity
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Boutros Khoury avec le President Camille Chamoun
context_page_description: Sheikh Boutros el-Khoury was a Lebanese businessman, banker and industrialist. A successful self-made man, Khoury managed to build a large commercial and industrial empire, and was one of Lebanon's most well-established businessmen from the 1950s to the 1970s. Khoury was an important figure of the Lebanese ruling elite in the second half of the 20th century. He played a decisive role in the development of economic legislation, and used his expertise in the resolution of several major national crises.
context_section_description: Khoury's social skills and talents as a mediator also served him well in his political career. He established himself at an early age as an influential figure in his home village of Karm Sadde, and received as a consequence the honorary title of "Sheikh". He was therefore elected mayor of the village at a very young age.
  Khoury's reputation, in North Lebanon and across the country, grew as a result of his business successes and growing leadership skills, along with his participation in the Lebanese independence movement led by Bechara El Khoury against the French Mandate. He rapidly became established as an important political leader in Zghorta, and was elected member of the Lebanese Parliament from 1943 to 1947. He showed little interest in a purely political career, however, retiring from parliament and instead adopting a role as an advisor and mediator in political circles.
  Khoury built strong ties with Lebanon's most prominent post-independence political figures, including Camille Chamoun, Fouad Chehab, Rashid Karami, Charles Helou, Suleiman Frangieh and Elias Sarkis. He often acted as an intermediary and conciliator between different factions, holding frequent social events to this end at either his residence or St. George's Hotel in Beirut. His prominence and influence in political circles earned him the title of "the man and friend of all regimes.”
  Khoury's political connections also afforded him various business advantages, thanks in large part to the government contracts he was able to obtain. In 1964, in close cooperation with Lebanese President Fouad Chehab, he negotiated with the United States a US$25 million wheat loan. Contracts such as this gave Khoury the opportunity to play a decisive role in the country's political economy.
caption: El-Khoury with Lebanese President Camille Chamoun.
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