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| 1946 |
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| The population of France in 1946 was 40 million. | 1 |
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| Jan. 20 |
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| DE GAULLE RESIGNED abruptly because of continued leftist opposition. | 2 |
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| Jan. 22 |
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| Socialist Félix Gouin was elected president. | 3 |
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| May 5 |
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| A popular referendum rejected the draft constitution that the Assembly had approved on April 19. | 4 |
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| June 2 |
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| Elections for a new Constituent Assembly resulted in a victory for the MRP, with the Communists in second and the socialists in third place. | 5 |
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| June 19 |
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| Georges Bidault was elected president of the provisional government. | 6 |
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| Aug. 22 |
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| The Constituent Assembly revised the code de la famille of July 29, 1939, and put into effect the present system of family allowances, the cornerstone of the French social security system, providing financial aid for families with numerous children. | 7 |
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| Oct. 13 |
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| The revised draft constitution was adopted by a vote of 9,120,576 to 7,980,333, with 7,938,884 abstentions. The new constitution closely resembled that of the Third Republic, except that the Senate was replaced by the Council of the Republic (the National Assembly, also called Chamber of Deputies remained the lower house of Parliament), France's relations to her overseas possessions were revised by creating the French Union, and suffrage was extended to women. | 8 |
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| Nov. 10 |
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| Elections for the National Assembly gave the Communists 186 seats, the MRP 166, and the Socialists 103. The resulting deadlock between communists and the MRP left a Socialist premier as the only choice. | 9 |
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| Dec. 16 |
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| After vainly trying to form a coalition, Léon Blum formed an all-Socialist cabinet and became prime minister. | 10 |
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