Georges Bidault

Georges Bidault , 1899-1983, French political leader. An influential columnist (1932-39), he was imprisoned (1940-41) in World War II and then joined the French underground, becoming its leader. A founder of the Mouvement Républicain Populaire (MRP), one of France's leading postwar parties, he was president of the provisional government (1946), premier (1949-50), and several times foreign minister. Although a strong supporter of Charles de Gaulle in 1958, Bidault opposed the Gaullist policy of Algerian independence and broke with the MRP. In 1962, announcing that he was going underground, he formed the National Council of Resistance within the terrorist Secret Army Organization (OAS); the French government accused Bidault of having become head of the OAS. In exile from 1962, Bidault lived in Brazil and then in Belgium before returning (1968) to France.

Bibliography: See his autobiography (tr. 1967).

Bidault, Georges (1899–1975),French politician and resistance worker who, as leader of the French Catholic left during the 1930s, was imprisoned by the Germans in 1940. He was released the following year and worked for the National Council for Resistance when it was formed in May 1943. Only just keeping one step ahead of the Gestapo, he became its head after Moulin's death in June 1943. When France was liberated he became foreign minister in de Gaulle's cabinet and in December 1944 signed the Franco-Soviet Treaty.

Bidault, Georges (1899–1982) French statesman and journalist. After serving in World War I he became professor of history in Paris. During World War II he became a distinguished leader of the French RESISTANCE MOVEMENT. He was a founder-member and leader (1949) of the Mouvement Républicaine Populaire. Bidault was Foreign Minister in several administrations of the Fourth Republic (1944, 1947, 1953–54) and Prime Minister (1946, 1949–50, 1958). He subsequently became bitterly opposed to Algerian independence: he became President of the National Resistance Council in 1962, was charged with plotting against the state, and went into exile in Brazil. He returned to France in 1968.