Amine Gemayel (born 22 January 1942) was President of Lebanon from 23 September 1982 to 22 September 1988, succeeding Bachir Gemayel and preceding Rene Moawad.
Biography[]
Amine Gemayel was born on 22 January 1942 in Bikfaya, Lebanon to the influential Gemayel family, the son of Kataeb Party founder Pierre Gemayel and the brother of Bachir Gemayel. In 1965, he gained a law degree from St. Joseph University in Beirut, and Gemayel entered politics as a moderate, unlike his pro-Israel and anti-Palestine brother Bachir. When his brother was assassinated before taking office as President in 1982, Amine was made the new President of Lebanon at the age of 40, and he avoided alienating Muslim politicians as his brother had done. He refused to meet with any Israeli officials while President, and his government lacked power due to two-thirds of the country being occupied by foreign powers; Israel occupied South Lebanon while Syria occupied the Beqaa Valley and eastern Lebanon. Gemayel dismissed Prime Minister Selim Hoss in favor of Michel Aoun, breaking the tradition of always having a Christian president and a Muslim Prime Minister by making a fellow Maronite a Prime Minister. In 1988, he left office, and after his son Pierre Amine Gemayel was killed in 2006, he lost his son's seat to the Free Patriotic Movement.