Quick Facts
Biography
Phaedon Gizikis (Greek: Φαίδων Γκιζίκης [ˈfeðon ɟiˈzicis]; June 16, 1917 – July 27, 1999) was a Greek army general, and the second and last President of Greece under The Junta, from 1973 to 1974.
Early life and military career
Born on June 16, 1917, in Volos, Greece, Phaedon Gizikis was a career Hellenic Army officer. He graduated from the Hellenic Military Academy in 1939, achieving the rank of second lieutenant in artillery, and participated in the Greco-Italian War and the Greek Civil War. In 1967, he supported the Georgios Papadopoulos coup d'etat and received a number of senior military posts during the dictatorship that followed.
Later life
He was given the title of President of the Republic on 25 November 1973, after Papadopoulos was ousted by Dimitrios Ioannides as head of the regime in an internal power struggle. After the fall of the dictatorship in 1974, he retained his post for four months pro tempore, until a new constitution could be enacted during metapolitefsi; he was then replaced by Michail Stasinopoulos.
Gizikis retired from the army in 1974, on the same day he resigned from his position as head of state. In 1976, a military judicial council dropped proceedings against him and 88 other former officers charged with treason and mutiny for collaborating with the former junta. He died on July 27, 1999 at the NIMTS military hospital in Athens.