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Jacobus Johannes "Jim" Fouché (6 June 1898 – 23 September 1980) served as the second State President of South Africa from 1968 to 1975.
Born in the Boer republic of the Orange Free State in 1898, (which became a British colony in 1902 and a province of the Union of South Africa in 1910), Fouché was a successful farmer. A staunch republican, he was a member of the National Party for many years, first being elected to the House of Assembly as MP for Smithfield from 1941 to 1950, and as MP for Bloemfontein West between 1960 and 1968.
Fouché served as Administrator of the Orange Free State from 1950 to 1959, and was then promoted to the Cabinet, where he served as Minister of Defence from 14 December 1959 to 1 April 1966 and as Minister of Agricultural Technical Services and Water Affairs from 1966 to 1968. He was elected State President in place of Dr Eben Dönges (who had been elected, but died before he could take office), and served as ceremonial head of state from 1968 to 1975. He was the only State President to serve his full seven-year term of office, as well as having the second-longest presidency to date (after Thabo Mbeki, who surpassed him on 14 June 2006).
Family
Fouché married Letta Rhoda ('Lettie') McDonald. They had a son, Dr. Jacobus Johannes ('Bux') Fouché, who married Cornelia Jacoba Redelinghuys ('Coreen') Louw. Bux Fouché served as ambassador in The Hague, Netherlands from 1964–1967. He died on 23 September 1980, leaving behind his wife and two sons, Jacobus Johannes ('Jimmy') Fouché and Jacobus Adriaan Louw ('Koos') Fouché.
Jimmy Fouché married Jacoba Elizabeth de Villiers ('Elsabé') Loubser, they have three children: Herculina Johanna ('Hanneline') Fouché (married to Eduard Wium ('Eduard') Mostert), Cornelia Jacoba ('Coreen') Fouché (married to Hendrik van der Merwe ('Merwe') Scholtz) and Jacobus Johannes ('Bux') Fouché. Koos Fouché married Edé Janse van Rensburg and have two children: Jeanne Fouché and Jacobus Johannes ('James') Fouché.