Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba Habib Ben Ali Bourguiba ( "al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah"; 3 August 1903 – 6 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who served as the country's leader from independence in 1956 to 1987. He first served as the second Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tunisia before proclaiming the Tunisian Republic in 1957 and thus becoming the first President of Tunisia. Prior to that, he played a major role in obtaining independence from France, ending the 75 years old protectorate and earning the title of "Supreme Combatant". Bourguiba was born in Monastir into a modest family as
Early political career of Habib Bourguiba November 1973, Bourguiba related the events of his beginnings in journalism and the success of his articles: The preponderants were successful in their attempts to silence the nationalist papers as the colonial administration censored "An-Nahdha", the daily paper of the reformist party and the weekly "Ez-Zohra", on May 12, 1931. Within days, Habib and M'hamed Bourguiba, Bahri Guiga, Salah Farhat and Mahmoud El Materi were sued. Chedli Khalledi, a member of the Destour party, alerted Marius Moutet and Gaston Bergery, chief of staff to Édouard Herriot, who were friends of the nationalists and had influence in Paris. Bergery quickly interfered,