On 10 July 1940 he voted to give the Cabinet presided over by Marshal Philippe Pétain authority to draw up a new constitution, effectively ending the French Third Republic and establishing Vichy France.

[5] During the occupation, Antoine Pinay remained mayor of Saint-Chamond, although he had been urged by General Georges to move to Algiers, in order to better protect the residents of this city.

Pinay resigned from the Conseil National within a few months and refused any official position with the Vichy regime, such as the préfecture de l'Hérault offered by Laval.

After the intervention of René Cassin, the vice-president of the Conseil d'État, who pointed to his fierce opposition to the German occupation, his citizen rights were restored on 5 October 1945.

[7] Having died aged 102 years, 348 days, he is the third longest lived national state leader in history, behind only Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum and Celâl Bayar.

[8] From 14 December 1990, when former Republic of China Premier Zhang Qun died until his own death, Pinay was the world's oldest living former head of government.