Vichy — full powers

On 10 July 1940, gathered at Vichy, the deputies and senators of the Third Republic had to vote on a bill granting Marshal Pétain full constituent powers — that is, the right to rewrite the Constitution. In the disarray of the defeat, many saw in Pétain, the "victor of Verdun", a recourse and a saviour.

What was at stake was the very fate of the Republic. To vote full powers was to scuttle the parliamentary regime and place the State in the hands of one man and his entourage, in the hope of order and recovery. To refuse was to defend republican legality, but against the current of a stunned public opinion and a climate of panic, and without any genuinely organised alternative.

Each parliamentarian could vote for full powers, out of confidence in Pétain or resignation. Vote against, to defend the Republic, at the risk of isolation. Or abstain / absent himself. Pressure, confusion and the absence of the parliamentarians who had left on the Massilia weighed on the vote. It was the legal act of birth of the Vichy regime.