After taking degrees in law and philosophy and pursuing a local political career, Coty was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1923. He sat with the left Republicans and specialized in matters of merchant shipping and government reform.

In December 1930 Coty served briefly as undersecretary of the interior and then left the Chamber for the Senate. He remained relatively inactive during World War II and returned to the Chamber in 1945. The next year he joined the Robert Schuman government as minister of reconstruction and urban affairs. He then returned to the Senate and was its vice president until his election to the presidency on Dec. 23, 1953, on the 13th ballot.

Coty served with dignity but was less active in trying to influence policy than his predecessor, Vincent Auriol, had been. In the crisis of May 1958 his threat to resign helped to induce the national assembly to elect Gen. Charles de Gaulle as prime minister. He retired on Jan. 8, 1959, when de Gaulle was installed as the first president of the Fifth Republic.