During the middle of his tenure as Prime Minister Laniel was an unsuccessful candidate for the French Presidency, a post won by René Coty.

Laniel was born at Vimoutiers in Normandy to a family that ran a successful textile factory.

[2] On 10 July 1940, he voted in favour of granting the cabinet presided by Marshal Philippe Pétain authority to draw up a new constitution, thereby effectively ending the French Third Republic and establishing Vichy France.

Co-founder of the Republican Party of Liberty (PRL), then of the National Center of Independents and Peasants (CNIP), Laniel's cabinet was overturned after the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in Indochina in 1954.

During the First Indochina War, France under the Leadership of Laniel seek an armistice that was supported by United Kingdom and other countries.