Camille Chamoun Camille Nimr Chamoun ( Arabic : كميل نمر شمعون , " Kamīl Sham ' ūn " ) ( 3 April 1900 – 7 August 1987 ) was President of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958 , and one of the country ' s main Christian leaders during most of the Lebanese Civil War ( 1975 – 1990 ) . Early years and education . Camille Nimr Chamoun was born at Deir el - Qamar on 3 April 1900 into a prominent Maronite family . He received a law degree from St . Joseph University . He was first elected to the Lebanese parliament in 1934 , and was reelected in 1937 and 1943 . A champion of independence from France , he was arrested on 11 November 1943 , and was imprisoned in Rashaïa castle , where he was held for eleven days , along with Bishara el - Khoury and Riad Al Solh , who were to become the first President and Prime Minister , respectively , of the new republic . Massive public protests led to their release on 22 November , which has since been celebrated as the Lebanese Independence Day . Chamoun was reelected to parliament , now called the National Assembly , in 1947 and 1951 . He was frequently absent , however , as he served as ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1944 to 1946 , and as ambassador to the United Nations thereafter . In 1930 , he married Zelpha ( or Zalfa ) Tabet with whom he had two sons , Dory and Dany . Revolt of 1958 . When President Bishara el - Khoury was forced to resign amid corruption allegations in 1952 , Chamoun was elected to replace him . Near the end of his term , Pan - Arabists and other groups backed by Nasser , with considerable support in Lebanon ' s Muslim ( particularly Sunni ) community , attempted to overthrow Chamoun ' s government in June 1958 after Chamoun tried to illegally seek another term as president . Chamoun appealed to the United States for help under the new Eisenhower Doctrine , and American marines landed in Beirut . The revolt was squashed , but to appease Muslim anger , General Fuad Chehab who claimed that he was a Christian enjoyed considerable popularity in the Muslim community , was elected to succeed Chamoun . The American diplomat Robert D . Murphy , sent to Lebanon as personal representative of President Eisenhower , played a significant role in allowing Chamoun to finish his mandate term normally and Chehab be elected according to the constitutional procedures . Founding the NLP . On his retirement from the presidency , Chamoun founded the National Liberal Party ( " al - Ahrar " ) . As the leader of this party , Chamoun was elected to the National Assembly again in 1960 , much to the consternation of President Chehab . He was defeated in 1964 , due to changes to the boundaries of his electoral district , which he and his supporters protested as deliberate gerrymandering . He was reelected to the National Assembly , however , in 1968 , and again in 1972 — Lebanon ' s last parliamentary election held in his lifetime . Following the election of 1968 , the National Liberal Party held 11 seats out of 99 , becoming the largest single party in the notoriously fractured National Assembly . It was the only political party to elect representatives from all of Lebanon ' s major religious confessions . Civil War . In the 1970s and 1980s , Chamoun served in a variety of portfolios in the Cabinet , including interior minister . This was during the Lebanese Civil War ( 1975 – 1990 ) , in which Chamoun and the NLP participated through the party ' s militia , the " Tigers " ( in Arabic , " nimr " means tiger ) . In the early stages of the war , he helped found the Lebanese Front , a coalition of mostly Christian politicians and parties , whose united militia — dominated by the Kataeb Party — became known as the Lebanese Forces ( LF ) . Chamoun was chairman of the Front from 1976 to 1978 . Though initially aligned with Syria , and inviting its army to intervene against the leftist Lebanese National Movement ( LNM ) and its Palestinian allies in 1976 , Chamoun then gravitated towards opposition to the Syrian presence . In 1980 , the NLP ' s Tigers militia was virtually destroyed by a surprise attack from Chamoun ' s Christian rival , Bashir Gemayel , and the LF forces under his command . After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 , Chamoun decided to enter a tactical cooperation with Israel , in order to oppose what he considered a Syrian occupation . Death and legacy . In 1984 , Chamoun agreed to join the National Unity government as deputy prime minister , a post he held until his death on 7 August 1987 at the age of 87 . He died of a heart attack at al Rum Hospital in Beirut . He is remembered as one of the main Christian nationalist leaders , and one of the last significant figures of Lebanon ' s pre - war generation of politicians whose political influence was eclipsed during the war by that of younger militia commanders . Camille Chamoun was survived by his two sons , Dany and Dory , both of whom became politicians in the NLP .