Guy Mollet

Guy Mollet , 1905-75, French politician. A former schoolteacher and a wartime resistance fighter, he rose to prominence in the Socialist party after World War II. He served as minister of state in the Léon Blum government (1946-47) and as vice premier (1951). As premier of a left-of-center anti-Communist cabinet of socialists and radicals, Mollet pursued a pro-European foreign policy in Western Europe, and sent French troops into Egypt during the Suez crisis. He served as minister of state under President de Gaulle (1958-59), playing a signifcant role in the Algerian crisis. Mollet was secretary-general of the Socialist party from 1946 to 1969.

Mollet, Guy (b. 31 Dec. 1905, d. 3 Oct. 1975). Prime Minister of France 1956–7 Son of a textile worker, he joined the Socialist Party in 1923 and became a teacher in Arras. He became a résistance leader in World War II, which he survived despite repeated interrogations by the German Gestapo. In 1944 he became the government representative in liberated northern France and Mayor of Arras, was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1945, and served as leader of his party, 1946–69. He joined a number of governments and headed the longest-lived coalition government in the history of the Fourth Republic, which lasted sixteen months. During this time, despite his desire to bring peace to Algeria, the unrest there escalated, while he also allowed himself to become involved in the Suez Crisis.