Having started as a tanner and merchant at Le Havre, Faure acquired considerable wealth, was elected to the National Assembly on 21 August 1881, and took his seat as a member of the Left, interesting himself chiefly in matters concerning economics, railways and the navy.

The principal cause of his elevation was the determination of the various sections of the moderate republican party to exclude Henri Brisson, who had had a plurality of votes on the first ballot, but had failed to obtain an absolute majority.

[3] His fine presence and his tact on ceremonial occasions rendered the state some service when he received the Tsar at Paris in 1896, and in 1897 returned his visit, after which meeting the Franco-Russian Alliance was publicly announced again.

The latter days of Faure's presidency were consumed by the Dreyfus affair, which he was determined to regard as chose jugée (Latin: res judicata, "adjudicated with no further appeal").

The President's condition did not appear dangerous: but Dr. Herbert, on perceiving that he was rapidly getting worse, telephoned for Dr. Lann-Longue and Dr. Cheurlet, who arrived with M. Dupoy and were joined later by Dr. Bergeroy.

after he began to lose consciousness and despite all efforts expired at ten, in the presence of the family and M. Dupuy[6].Unconfirmed rumours at the time state he was engaged in sexual activities in his office on top of the presidential desk with the 29-year-old Marguerite Steinheil.

A stormy meeting with the Prince Albert of Monaco (a Dreyfusard, who demanded that Germany act as guarantor for the innocent captain) would have aggravated the president's condition.

But according to Germain Galérant, doctor and member of the International Society for the History of Medicine, Faure died of a stroke, the first signs of which appeared several hours earlier, and the historian puts the version of the deadly antics on the account of “Mrs.

[8] The French barque Président Felix Faure, named for the President, was involved in a 1908 case of shipwreck at the Antipodes Islands, south of New Zealand, the survivors being stranded for sixty days before being rescued.