Konstantinos D. Tsatsos (; July 1, 1899 – October 8, 1987) was a Greek

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

, professor of law, scholar and politician. He served as the

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President of the Third Hellenic Republic from 1975 to 1980.

Life

He was born in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

in 1899. After graduating from the Law School of the

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

in 1918 he joined the diplomatic corps. After completing his doctoral studies (1924–1928) in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

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, 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 The prime minister of the Hellenic Republic (), usually referred to as the prime minister of Greece (), is the head of government of the Greece, Hellenic Republic and the leader of the Cabinet of Greece, Greek Cabinet. The officeholder's of ...

Ioannis Metaxas Ioannis Metaxas (; 12 April 187129 January 1941) was a Greek military officer and politician who was dictator of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941. He governed constitutionally for the first four months of his tenure, and thereafter as th ...

. During the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, Tsatsos participated in the Greek Resistance and then he fled to the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, where the exiled Greek government was seated. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, in 1945 he returned to Greece and entered politics and became minister for the first time, serving as

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

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

and then he became a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. After the formation of the

National Radical Union The National Radical Union ( (ΕΡΕ), (ERE)) was a Greek political party formed in 1956 by Konstantinos Karamanlis, mostly out of the Greek Rally party. History ERE was a conservative, right-wing party, which also had some prominent centris ...

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 The Metapolitefsi (, , " regime change") was a period in modern Greek history from the fall of the Ioannides military junta of 1973–74 to the transition period shortly after the 1974 legislative elections. The metapolitefsi was ignited by ...

in 1974, he was elected again as a member of the

Hellenic Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme demo ...

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 The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

poet George Seferis who died in 2000.

Tsatsos as a scholar

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 A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

Works

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

External links

* *
Official biography
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsatsos, Konstantinos 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