Atassi, Hashim al- (1875-1960), a prominent political Syrian figure and President of Syria (1936-1939, 1950-1951, 1954). Born in Homs and educated in Istanbul, he started his political career in the Ottoman province of Beirut. He chaired the Syrian conference that declared independence in 1920 after evacuation of the Turks. He became prime minister during the short-lived independence under King Faisal I. He was one of he leaders of opposition against the French mandate, and was imprisoned by the French for several months in the Arwad Island. He chaired the National Bloc and the Syrian delegation that signed the 1936 treaty with France. He was elected President of the Syrian Republic in that same year. He remained in this post till 1939 when he resigned in protest of French violations of the treaty. He refused to cooperate with the French before they grant full Syrian independence. In 1949, after a series of military coups d'etat, he was asked to chair a new government that would help write a new constitution. He resigned in 1951 after the coup of Adib Al-Shishakli. In 1953 he arranged a meeting of political leaders in Homs to declare opposition to Shishakli's plans for changing the constitution. In 1954, Shishakli put him under home arrest. But Shishakli soon left the country under growing opposition and pressures from the army. Atassi was elected President again. After the elections of 1955, he decided to pull out of the political life.