Jehan de Rohan-Chabot

Viscount Jehan de Rohan-Chabot was born in 1884 and came from a family with regal connections in France and Brittany. A medical doctor by training, he served as a fighter pilot in the First World War and later ran the French division of the BP oil company. Although he had an interest in motor sport, Viscount de Rohan-Chabot specialised in traffic issues and had been president of the AIACR’s touring commission, the CIT.

He became President of the Automobile Club de France (ACF) in 1928, a role he filled for 20 years. He was unanimously elected President of the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) in 1936. He presided over the organisation for 22 years, including during the turbulent period of the Second World War, when the premises of the ACF and AIACR were annexed during the German occupation of France.

In 1946, upon the formation of the FIA, Rohan-Chabot retained his position as President. In 1950, he assumed the presidency of the OTA, a joint venture between the FIA and the AIT.

At the General Assembly in October 1957, it was decided that the FIA would set a three-year term for presidency instead of holding re-elections every year. The 73-year old Viscount de Rohan-Chabot tendered his resignation but was persuaded to stay on as president for one more year. When he eventually retired in 1958 he was made Honorary President and continued to attend meetings until just before his death in 1968.