56 years ago today, June 20, 1969 (May 6, 1969, lunar calendar), Pompidou became President of France. Pompidou took over as president in Paris. On June 20, 1969, Georges Pompidou, an intellectual who felt comfortable in politics and poetry, succeeded Charles de Gaulle as President of France. In the election, he defeated acting President Alan Poe. Pompidou, who led Charles de Gaulle's cabinet, had to find a new path without alienating the Gaullists. He has hired a conservative to serve as his finance minister, but he has nominated the liberal Jacques Chabon Delmas as prime minister.