Confirmed this week as France's 20th Premier since World War II: Pierre Mendès-France, 47. "I hate politics, I do not indulge in politics, I am not a politician," he says, but his unorthodox approach has proved him to be the most consummate political strategist in France today.
Upbringing: The name Mendès-France, according to some who bear it, goes back to about 1300 when their forebears were driven from Portugal because they were Jews. Those who fled to France added their new homeland's name. The Premier is frequently called only Mendes (pronounced Mahn-dess). Pierre's parents were well-to-do and he received good schooling.
Admitted to the bar at 23, he was the youngest lawyer in France. A student-days fight with royalists gave Mendès-France 1) a permanently splayed nose and 2) an urge to go into politics. Only 25, but wearing a mustache to appear older, he was elected a Deputy in 1932—the youngest in the Chamber of Deputies.
World War II: Volunteered for combat duty as an air-force lieutenant (navigator), fled France after the Nazi victory, was caught in Morocco and sentenced by Vichy to six years in prison for "dese-tion," but made a hacksaw-and-bedsheet escape to the underground and then to the De Gaulle forces in England. Made bombing raids over France and Germany.
Postwar: Represented France at the Bretton Woods monetary conference.
In 1944 he was named Minister of National Economy but quit after a few months, was made Finance Minister in 1946 but quit in a matter of days—each time because he could not win support for stringent anti-inflation measures. Has since turned down all Cabinet offers because he disapproved of the long succession of patchwork coalitions designed to do as little as possible to offend as few as possible of France's variegated factions. "You cannot cauterize a wooden leg," said Mendès-France contemptuously.
Personal Traits: A chunky, fast-moving man with dwindling black hair, a broad nose, a sardonic look and a perpetual suggestion of 5-o'clock shadow, Mendès-France enjoys a pleasant family life (with an Egyptian-born wife, (see cut), sons of 18 and 20).
Likes skiing and piano playing, has built a thriving private law practice in Paris.
Political Views: Describes himself as a French New Dealer, but his domestic program grows out of some essentially conservative premises: hard money, balanced budgets and sound businessmen's practices. Mendès-France has built his reputation solely by the thoroughness with which he digs into problems, the clarity with which he expresses himself. Last year, urging an end to the war in Indo-China, he came within 13 votes of being chosen Premier (TIME, June 15, 1953)-"To govern is to choose," says Mendès-France. He has argued in speech after speech in the Assembly that only by abandoning some of its commitments can France overcome its immobilisme. "France must limit her objectives, but attain them; establish a policy which is perhaps less ambitious than some would desire, but hold to it. Our aim must not be to give the illusion of grandeur, but to remake a nation whose word will be heard and respected."