His first cabinet post was as Minister of Finance under Léon Blum, in which Auriol controversially devalued the French franc 30% against the United States dollar, leading to capital flight and greater economic unease.

Auriol was one of the 80 deputies who voted against the extraordinary powers given to Prime Minister Philippe Pétain on 10 July 1940 that brought about the Nazi-backed Vichy government.

He represented the Socialists at the Free French Consultative Assembly (organized by Charles de Gaulle in Algiers later that year).

After World War II, Auriol served as Minister of State in de Gaulle's provisional government.

[2] Meanwhile, the National Assembly elected him on 16 January 1947 as the first President of the Fourth Republic by a wide margin, receiving 452 votes (51.19%) against the 242 (27.41%) for the People's Republican Movement (MRP) candidate, Auguste Champetier de Ribes.

A series of debilitating strikes were waged across France in 1947, initiated by the Confédération Générale du Travail.

Auriol commented on leaving office: "The work was killing me; they called me out of bed at all hours of the night to receive resignations of prime ministers"[3] (there were eighteen different governments during his seven years as president.)

Auriol became a member of the Constitutional Council of France in 1958 at the establishment of the French Fifth Republic; he resigned from the SFIO in the same year.