Mollet, Guy

Mollet, Guy gē môlĕˈ [key], 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.

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