Habib Bourguiba (1903-2000) was president of the Tunisian Republic and played a primordial role in leading his country's nationalist struggle for independence.

Habib Bourguiba was born on Aug. 3, 1903, at Monastir into a modest family. He completed secondary school in Tunis, adhering to the Destour, or liberal constitutional, party. In 1924 he won a scholarship to study political science and law in Paris. Upon returning to Tunis, he joined the bar and in 1930 launched his political career as a Destourian militant. He founded the newspaper Tunisian Action, in which he defined his political goal as the development of a modernist, revolutionary, and laic nationalism.

Early Political Life

In 1934 Bourguiba founded the more radical Neo-Destour party. His dynamism so disturbed the French resident general that Bourguiba was deported to the south, where he remained for two years. He was liberated when the Popular Front government in France attempted to liberalize the...