Michael Arthur Josef Jakob Hainisch (German: [ˈhaɪnɪʃ] ⓘ; 15 August 1858 – 26 February 1940) was an Austrian politician who served as the first president of Austria from 1920 to 1928, after the fall of the monarchy at the end of World War I. Hainisch was born and named after his father who was a factory owner.

[1] He started out as a lawyer and an official of the Treasury and of the Education Department, but then retired to his estates in Lower Austria and Styria, where he carried on model farming, became a leader of the Austrian branch of the Fabian movement, and one of the founders of the Central People's Library.

He was married to Emilia Figdor, the descendant of a prominent Viennese assimilated Jewish family.

He also became a protector of local traditions and culture and initiated the creation of the law of protected monuments.

In 1928, main parties proposed to amend the constitution in order to reelect Hainisch for a third term.