Pierre Mendès France

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In this article, the surname is Mendès France, not France.
Pierre Mendès France
Mendès France in 1948
Prime Minister of France
In office
18 June 1954 – 23 February 1955
PresidentRené Coty
Preceded byJoseph Laniel
Succeeded byEdgar Faure
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
18 June 1954 – 20 January 1955
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byGeorges Bidault
Succeeded byEdgar Faure
Mayor of Louviers
In office
13 March 1953 – 27 November 1958
Preceded byMarcel Malherbe
Succeeded byAndré Vincelot
In office
17 May 1935 – 20 September 1939
Preceded byRaoul Thorel
Succeeded byAuguste Fromentin
President of the General Council of Eure
In office
6 October 1945 – 6 December 1958
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byGustave Héon
Minister of National Economics
In office
4 September 1944 – 6 April 1945
Prime MinisterCharles de Gaulle
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byRené Pleven
Commissioner for Finances
In office
3 November 1943 – 4 September 1944
PresidentCharles de Gaulle
Preceded byMaurice Couve de Murville
Succeeded byAimé Lepercq
Personal details
Born
Pierre Isaac Isidore Mendès France

(1907-01-11)11 January 1907
Radical (1924–1959)
Autonomous Socialist (1959–1960)
Unified Socialist
(1960–1971)
Spouses
Lily Cicurel
​
​
(m. 1933; died 1967)​
Marie-Claire Servan-Schreiber
​
​
(m. 1971)​
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Paris

Pierre Isaac Isidore Mendès France (French:

CNIP). Pierre-Mendès France is primarily remembered as the French Prime Minister who was in office at the outbreak of the Algerian independence war in 1954. During his tenure, France initiated close military cooperation with Israel
, selling arms and aircraft to the young state. Mendès-France laid the groundwork for France’s military nuclear program and the early transfer of nuclear technology to Israel.

Early life

Mendès France was born on 11 January 1907 in Paris, the son of a textile merchant from

SFIO, often called the Socialist Party). He married Lili Cicurel, the niece of Salvator Cicurel.[2]

Third Republic and World War II

Mendès France in 1932

In 1932, Mendès France was elected member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Eure department; he was the Assembly's youngest member.[1] In 1936 he came within 700 votes of losing to Modeste Legouez, the president of the radical agrarian group the Comités de défense paysanne in what he said was his hardest electoral fight.[3] His ability was soon recognized, and in 1938 the government of Léon Blum appointed him Under Secretary of State for Finance.[1]

In October 1940, France was put on trial by the

Free French forces led by Charles de Gaulle. Mendès France later described his trial, conviction and subsequent escape in the celebrated documentary "The Sorrow and the Pity".[1]

During the latter years of the war, Mendès France served in the

United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods.[1]

Mendès France soon fell out with the Finance Minister,

United Nations Economic and Social Council
.

Fourth Republic

In 1947, after democratic French politics resumed under the

Algerian War of Independence. When French forces were defeated by the Vietnamese Communists at Dien Bien Phu in June 1954, the government of Joseph Laniel
resigned, and Mendès France formed a government with support from the centre-right.

Mendès France immediately negotiated an agreement with

Poujadist
member of the Assembly, described his "patriotic, almost physical repulsion" for Mendès France.

At the outbreak of the Algerian War of Independence in 1954, Pierre Mendès France firmly reaffirmed that Algeria was an integral part of France and rejected any notion of negotiation with nationalist movements. He declared to the French parliament : "There can be no compromise when it comes to defending the internal peace of the nation, its unity, and the integrity of the Republic. The departments of Algeria are an integral part of the French Republic [...] The idea of secession is unthinkable".[6]

Later, Mendès France next came to an agreement with

Pied-noirs there left the colonial power no easy way to extricate itself from that situation. The future mercenary Bob Denard was convicted in 1954 and sentenced to fourteen months in prison for an assassination attempt against Mendès France.[7]

Mendès France hoped that the Radical Party would become the party of modernization and renewal in French politics, replacing the SFIO. An advocate of greater

European Defence Community
, mainly because of misgivings about Germany's participation.

His cabinet fell in February 1955. In 1956 he served as Minister of State in the cabinet headed by the SFIO leader Guy Mollet, but resigned over Mollet's handling of the Algerian War,[1] which was coming to dominate French politics. His split over Algeria with Edgar Faure, leader of the conservative wing of the Radical Party, led to Mendès France resigning as party leader in 1957.

Fifth Republic

Mendès France, against the Algerian War during a PSU meeting in January 1962.

Like most of the French left, Mendès France opposed de Gaulle's seizure of power in

May 1958, when the mounting crisis in Algeria brought about a breakdown in the Fourth Republic system and the creation of a Fifth Republic.[1] He led the Union of Democratic Forces, an anti-Gaullist group, but in the November 1958 elections he lost his seat in the Assembly. After being expelled from the Radical Party, whose majority faction supported de Gaulle, in late 1959 he joined the Autonomous Socialist Party (PSA), a breakaway group from the SFIO.[1]

In April 1960, the PSA merged with several other groups to form the Unified Socialist Party (PSU).[1] He made an unsuccessful bid to regain his seat in the National Assembly representing Eure in the 1962 election.[8]

In 1967 he returned to the Assembly as a PSU member for the

Socialist Party
in 1971, Mendès France supported him, but did not attempt another political comeback. He lived long enough to see Mitterrand elected president.

Political career

Governmental function
  • President of the Council of Ministers : 1954–1955.
  • Minister of Foreign Affairs : 1954–1955.
  • Minister of State : January–May 1956 (Resignation).
Electoral mandates

National Assembly of France

General Council

Municipal council

  • Mayor of Louviers : 1935–1939 (Resignation) / 1953–1958 (Resignation). Reelected in 1953.
  • Municipal councillor of Louviers : 1935–1939 (Resignation) / 1953–1958 (Resignation). Reelected in 1953.

Mendès France's first Ministry, 19 June 1954 – 20 January 1955

Changes

Mendès France's second Ministry, 20 January 1955 – 23 February 1955

  • Pierre Mendès France – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • Edgar Faure – Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • Jacques Chevallier – Minister of National Defense
  • Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury – Minister of Armed Forces
  • François Mitterrand – Minister of the Interior
  • Robert Buron – Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs, and Planning
  • Henri Ulver – Minister of Commerce and Industry
  • Louis Aujoulat
    – Minister of Labor and Social Security
  • Emmanuel Temple – Minister of Justice
  • Raymond Schmittlein – Minister of Merchant Marine
  • Jean Berthoin – Minister of National Education
  • Jean Masson – Minister of Veterans and War Victims
  • Roger Houdet – Minister of Agriculture
  • Jean-Jacques Juglas – Minister of Overseas France
  • Jacques Chaban-Delmas – Minister of Public Works, Transport, and Tourism
  • André Monteil – Minister of Public Health and Population
  • Maurice Lemaire – Minister of Reconstruction and Housing
  • Christian Fouchet – Minister of Moroccan and Tunisian Affairs
  • Guy La Chambre – Minister of Relations with Partner States

Honours

National honours

Foreign honours

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9780313286230
    .
  2. ^ "1927: Owner of Egypt's Grandest Store Brutally Murdered in Cairo". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  3. ^ Pierre Mendès France, élu d’un département rural, Pierre Mendès France et la démocratie locale
  4. ^ Herbst, James (2019). "The Massilia Affair and the Clermont-Ferrand Desertion Trials". De Gruyter Oldenbourg.
  5. ^ "Clermont-Ferrand rend hommage à Jean Zay". France Bleu. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  6. ^ "Séance du 12 novembre 1954 à l'Assemblée nationale". 1954. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2025. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
  7. ^ Obituary: Bob Denard Archived 23 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine, BBC, 14 October 2007
  8. ^ De Gaulle Wins In France Archived 8 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine. St. Petersburg Times. 19 November 1962

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pierre Mendès-France.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Pierre Mendès France.
Political offices
Preceded by
Free French Commissioner for Finance

1943–1944 		Succeeded by
–
Preceded by
Minister of National Economy

1944–1945 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of France
1954–1955 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Minister of Foreign Affairs

1954–1955 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
—
 Minister of State
1956 		Succeeded by
—
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