Misplaced Pages

Konstantinos Tsatsos
Κωσταντίνος Τσάτσος
Tsatsos in 1976
2nd President of Greece
In office 19 July 1975 – 10 May 1980
Prime Minister	Konstantinos Karamanlis
Preceded by	Michail Stasinopoulos
Succeeded by	Konstantinos Karamanlis
Personal details
Born	(1899-07-01)1 July 1899 Athens, Kingdom of Greece
Died	8 October 1987(1987-10-08) (aged 88) Athens, Greece
Political party	Liberal Party (Before 1955) National Radical Union (1955–1967) Independent (1967–1974) New Democracy (1974–1987)
Spouse	Ioanna Tsatsou, née Seferiadi (1909–2000)
Alma mater	University of Athens Heidelberg University
Signature

Konstantinos D. Tsatsos (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Τσάτσος; July 1, 1899 – October 8, 1987) was a Greek diplomat, professor of law, scholar and politician. He served as the second President of the Third Hellenic Republic from 1975 to 1980.

Life

He was born in Athens in 1899. After graduating from the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 1918 he joined the diplomatic corps. After completing his doctoral studies (1924–1928) in Heidelberg, Weimar Republic Germany, he returned to Greece where he became a professor of law in 1933. In 1940, he was arrested and exiled for opposing the 4th of August Regime under Prime Minister of Greece Ioannis Metaxas. During the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, Tsatsos participated in the Greek Resistance and then he fled to the Middle East, where the exiled Greek government was seated.

After the end of World War II, in 1945 he returned to Greece and entered politics and became minister for the first time, serving as Interior Minister in the first cabinet of Vice Admiral Petros Voulgaris (8 April – 11 August 1945). In 1946, when he decided to participate more actively in the politics of Greece, he resigned from his post National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and then he became a member of the Liberal Party. After the formation of the National Radical Union by Constantine Karamanlis, in 1955 he became a member of the party and one of the closest colleagues of Karamanlis, although, ideologically, he was a centrist-liberal and not a conservative.

He served as a member of parliament and in various ministerial positions until the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. Under the first premiership of Karamanlis (1955–1963) he served for many years as Minister of Public Administration. After the Metapolitefsi in 1974, he was elected again as a member of the Hellenic Parliament and became Minister for Culture. In 1975, he was elected President of the Republic by the parliament. He retired after serving his five-year term. He died in 1987 in Athens. He is buried in the First Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Ioanna, née Seferiadi, the sister of the Nobel laureate poet George Seferis who died in 2000.

Tsatsos as a scholar

This article is part of a series on
Conservatism in Greece
Ideologies Christian democracy Greek nationalism Metaxism Monarchism
Principles Authority Christian values Greek culture Family values Hellenocentrism Laconophilia Orthodoxy Private property Social market economy Social order Protectionism Tradition
History 4th of August Regime Greek Civil War Greek economic miracle Greek language question Greek monarchy referendum, 1935 Greek referendum, 1946 Greek Resistance Leonardopoulos–Gargalidis coup d'état attempt Metapolitefsi National Schism
Intellectuals Bardis Dragoumis Elytis Kondylis Theodoracopulos Tsatsos Vlachos
Politicians Averoff Dragoumis Gounaris Kalogeropoulos Kanellopoulos Karamanlis Kapodistrias Koumoundouros Metaxas Papagos Protopapadakis Rallis (Dimitrios) Rallis (Georgios) Samaras Stefanopoulos Stephanopoulos Tsaldari Tsaldaris (Konstantinos) Latinopoulou Tsaldaris (Panagis) Tsatsos Velopoulos
PartiesActive Democratic Revival Greek Solution Independent Greeks National Hope National Unity Association New Democracy Niki Popular Orthodox Rally Spartans Voice of Reason Defunct Democratic Renewal Freethinkers' Party Greek Rally Napist Party National Radical Union People's Party Political Spring Popular Social Party Union of Populars
Organisations Panhellenic Liberation Organization
Media Eleftheros Kosmos Estia Kathimerini
Related Ethnarch Oikos
Conservatism portal Greece portal
v t e

Konstantinos Tsatsos served as professor of the philosophy of law from 1933 until 1946 when he entered politics.
Since 1962 he was a member of the Academy of Athens. His vast writing work includes textbooks of legal theory, surveys on philosophy and history, as well as literary works, poems, essays and translations of ancient Greek and Roman classics. In 1974, he presided over the parliamentary commission that submitted the first draft of the new constitution.

Writings on legal theory

• Der Begriff des positiven Rechtes, Heidelberg: Weiss'sche Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1928.
• "Society and the Law", in Archive of Philosophy and Positive Sciences (1935) (in Greek).
• "Le Droit et la société", in Droit, Morale, Moeurs: IIe Annuaire de l'Institut International de Philosophie du Droit et de Sociologie Juridique, Paris, 1936.
• The problem of the Sources of Law, Athens: Papadogiannis, 1941 (in Greek).
• Introduction to Legal Science, Athens: Papazisis, 1945 (in Greek).
• "Contract as Legal Rule", in volume for K. Triantafillopoulos, Athens, 1959 (in Greek).
• Studies on the Philosophy of Law, Athens: Ikaros, 1960 (in Greek).
• "Qu'est-ce-que la philosophie du droit?", in: Archives de Philosophie du Droit 7 (1962).
• The Problem of the Interpretation of Law, Athens: Sakkoulas, 1978 (in Greek).

Surveys on history and philosophy (translations)

• The Social Philosophy of Ancient Greeks, Athens: Estia, 1962 (in Greek).
• Cicero, Athens: Estia, 1968 (in Greek).
• Demosthenes, Athens: Estia, 1975 (in Greek).

Essays

• The Greek Course, Athens: Estia, 1967.
• Anathemas and meditations, 4 Volumes, Athens: Estia, 1983–1991 (in Greek).
• The Modern World, Athens: Editions of the Friends, 1992 (in Greek).

Literary writings

• Palamas, Athens: Estia, 1966 (in Greek).
• A Dialogue about poetry - A dialogue with Giorgos Seferis, Athens: Estia, 1975 (in Greek).

References

1. "ΚΥΒΕΡΝΗΣΙΣ ΠΕΤΡΟΥ ΒΟΥΛΓΑΡΗ (De Facto) - Από 8.4.1945 έως 11.8.1945" (in Greek). General Secretariat of the Government. Retrieved 12 July 2015.

External links

• (in Greek) Official Biography

• 1899 births
• 1987 deaths
• 20th-century Greek philosophers
• 20th-century presidents of Greece
• Burials at the First Cemetery of Athens
• Deaths from cancer in Greece
• 20th-century Greek educators
• Greek MPs 1956–1958
• Greek political writers
• Health ministers of Greece
• Justice ministers of Greece
• Liberal Party (Greece) politicians
• Members of the Academy of Athens (modern)
• Members of the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco
• Ministers of national education and religious affairs of Greece
• Ministers of the interior of Greece
• Ministers of tourism of Greece
• Academic staff of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
• National Radical Union politicians
• New Democracy (Greece) politicians
• Diplomats from Athens
• 20th-century Greek diplomats
• Culture ministers of Greece
• Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Politicians from Athens