children. Having voluntarily enlisted in the army, Apithy saw combat from 1939 to 1940 as an artillery officer. He would not return to Dahomey until 1945. Shortly after his return Francis Aupiais, a well-liked Roman Catholic pastor, encouraged Apithy to pursue a career in politics. It began in July, when the latter was a participant in the Monnerville Commission. Running as a Socialist candidate, Apithy was elected to represent Togo and Dahomey at the French Constituent Assembly in 1945, receiving 6,600 votes out of a total of 9,057. Voters in the election had to be French citizens or Dahomeyans whom the French government deemed responsible. His nomination as a candidate for the Assembly was a strategic move on the part of the Europeans; they wished to elect a black person to appease their colonists, while they still held full power. Nonetheless, Apithy did pass some legislation at the Assembly, including the February 1946 formation of a secondary school in Porto Novo. Apithy was said to have ended slavery in Dahomey, although in fact he was not involved with the abolition bill. He was named a member of the Commission on Overseas Territories and debated on the political situation of the overseas departments and territories of France. In June 1946, he was re-elected to his post with 8,096 ballots of 9.069 cast, and was soon appointed attorney general of Dahomey. Thereafter Apithy was named to several political posts, all while a member of Dahomey's only political party, the Dahomeyan Progressive Union (UPD). He was the choice for vice president of the Rassemblement Democratique Africain (RDA), though left the organization shortly afterwards when facing Catholic opposition. The year 1946 also marked his entry into the General Council, becoming one of its inaugural 30 representatives. In the November 1946 French National Assembly elections, Apithy ran under the ticket of Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière (SFIO). Winning 32,977 votes out of 33,605 cast, he captured Dahomey's sole seat allotted at the Assembly. His only opponent, Emile Poisson, left the race the day before the election. Deputy to the French National Assembly One of Apithy's first actions in Paris was naming his membership with the Commissions on Methods of Communication, Economic Affairs, and Finances. After joining the Grand Council of French West Africa (AOF) in 1947, the new deputy proposed a bill on its functions. He also suggested the creation of a bank covering the