Pierre Messmer | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Messmer in 1988 | |
| Prime Minister of France | |
| In office 5 July 1972 – 27 May 1974 | |
| President | Georges Pompidou Alain Poher(Acting) |
| Preceded by | Jacques Chaban-Delmas |
| Succeeded by | Jacques Chirac |
| Governor of the Ivory Coast Territory | |
| In office 19 February 1954 – 18 February 1956 | |
| Preceded by | Camille-Victor Bailly |
| Succeeded by | Pierre-Auguste-Michel-Marie Lami |
| Minister of the Armed Forces | |
| In office 5 February 1960 – 22 June 1969 | |
| Prime Minister | Michel Debré Georges Pompidou Maurice Couve de Murville |
| Preceded by | Pierre Guillaumat |
| Succeeded by | Michel Debré |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer (1916-03-20)20 March 1916 |
| Died | 29 August 2007(2007-08-29) (aged 91) Paris, France |
| Political party | UDR |
| Occupation | Civil servant |
Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer (French:[pjɛʁmɛsmɛʁ]; 20 March 1916 – 29 August 2007) was a FrenchGaullist politician. He served asMinister of Armies underCharles de Gaulle from 1960 to 1969 – the longest serving sinceÉtienne François, duc de Choiseul underLouis XV – and then asPrime Minister underGeorges Pompidou from 1972 to 1974. A member of theFrench Foreign Legion, he was considered one of the historical Gaullists, and died aged 91 in themilitary hospital of theVal-de-Grâce in August 2007. He was elected a member of theAcadémie française in 1999; his seat was taken over bySimone Veil.[1]
Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer was born inVincennes in 1916. He graduated in 1936 in the language schoolENLOV and the following year at theÉcole nationale de la France d'outre-mer (National School of Oversea France).[1]
He then became a senior civil servant in the colonial administration and became aDoctor of Laws in 1939. In the outbreak of World War II, he wassous-lieutenant of the 12th regiment ofSenegalese tirailleurs, and refused France's capitulation after thedefeat.[1] He then hijacked inMarseille an Italian cargo ship (theCapo Olmo), along with his friend Jean Simon (a future French General), and sailed first to Gibraltar, then London and engaged himself in theFree French Forces as a member of the13th Demi-Brigade of theFrench Foreign Legion.[1][2]
Messmer then participated to thecampaign in Eritrea,in Syria,in Libya, participating to theBattle of Bir Hakeim, and in theTunisia campaign.[1] He also fought at theBattle of El Alamein in Egypt.[3] He joined in LondonGeneral Koenig's military staff and participated inthe landings in Normandy in August 1944 and theLiberation of Paris.[1]
NamedCompagnon de la Libération in 1941,[2] he received theCroix de guerre (War Cross) with six citations after the Liberation, as well as themedal of the Resistance.[1]
After World War II, he returned to the colonies and was aprisoner of war of theVietminh, during two months in 1945, after the outbreak of theFirst Indochina War.[1] He was named the following year general secretary of the interministerial committee forIndochina and then head of staff of the high commissary of the Republic.[1]
Messmer began his high-level African service as governor ofMauritania from 1952 to 1954, and then served as governor ofIvory Coast from 1954 to 1956, when he briefly returned to Paris in the staff ofGaston Defferre, Minister of Overseas Territories who enacted the Defferre Act granting to colonial territories internal autonomy, a first step towards independence.
That same year, Messmer was nominated as governor general ofCameroun, where a civil war had started the preceding year following the outlawing of the independentistUnion of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC) in July 1955. He initiated adecolonization process and imported thecounter-revolutionary warfare methods theorized in Indochina and implemented during theAlgerian War (1954–62).[4] Visiting de Gaulle in Paris, he was implicitly granted permission for his change of policies in Cameroon, which exchanged repression for negotiations with the UPC.[4]
A "Pacification Zone" – the ZOPAC (Zone de pacification du Cameroon) was created on 9 December 1957, englobing 7,000 square km controlled by seven infantry regiments.[4] Furthermore, a civilian-military intelligence apparatus was created, combining colonial and local staff, assisted by a civilian militia.Mao Zedong'speople's war was reversed in an attempt to separate the civilian population from the guerrilla. In that aim, the local population was rounded up in guarded villages located on the main roads that were controlled by the French Army.[4]
Messmer served as high commissioner ofFrench Equatorial Africa from January 1958 to July 1958, and as high commissioner ofFrench West Africa from 1958 to 1959.[citation needed]
From 1959 to 1969, underCharles de Gaulle's presidency and in the turmoil of theAlgerian War, he wasMinister of Armies. He was confronted with the 1961Generals' Putsch, reorganised theFrench Army and adapted it to thenuclear era.[1]
In 1960, Messmer visited Lisbon and expressed lament for the United Nations resolutions against colonialism and approved of theEstado Novo regime's hardline stance against decolonisation on the grounds that Portugal represented the last vestige of white Western civilisation on the African continent.[5]
Messmer gave permission for formerAlgerian War veterans to fight inKatanga against the newly independentCongo andUnited Nations peacekeeping forces. He confided toRoger Trinquier that it was de Gaulle's ambition to replace the Belgians and control a reunited Congo fromÉlisabethville.[6]
Along with the Minister of Research,Gaston Palewski, Messmer was present at theBéryl nuclear test in Algeria, on 1 May 1962 during which an accident occurred. Officials, soldiers, and Algerian workers escaped as they could, often without wearing any protection. Palewski died in 1984 ofleukemia, which he always has attributed to theBeryl incident, and Messmer always remained close-mouthed on the affair.[7][8]
De Gaulle said that along withMaurice Couve de Murville, Messmer was "one of his two arms.[3] " InMay 68, he advised de Gaulle against the use of the military.[1][clarification needed]
Messmer became a personality of theGaullist Party and waselected deputy in 1968, representingMoselledépartement. A member of the conservative wing of the Gaullist movement, he criticised the "New Society" plan of Prime MinisterJacques Chaban-Delmas and thus won the trust ofGeorges Pompidou,elected President in 1969.[3] He quit the government after de Gaulle's resignation and founded the associationPrésence du gaullisme (Presence of Gaullism).[1]
He occupied cabinet positions again in the 1970s, serving first asMinister of state charged ofthe Overseas Territories in 1971,[9] then as Prime Minister from July 1972 to May 1974.
He succeeded in this function toJacques Chaban-Delmas, who had adopted aparliamentary reading of theConstitution, which Messmer opposed in his investiture speech.[9] Messmer had been chosen by Pompidou as a guarant of his fidelity to de Gaulle, and his cabinet included personalities close to Pompidou, such asJacques Chirac, named Minister of Agriculture.[10]
Due to PresidentGeorges Pompidou's illness, he dealt with the everyday administration of the country and adopted a conservative stance opposed to Chaban-Delmas' previous policies. Henceforth, he stopped the liberalization of theORTF media governmental organization, naming as its CEOArthur Conte, a personal friend of Pompidou.[10]
Under his government, theUnion des Démocrates pour la République (UDR) presidential majority negotiated withValéry Giscard d'Estaing'sIndependent Republicans an electoral alliance, which enabled it to win the1973 elections despite theleft-wing union realized with the 1972Common Program.[10] Messmer's second cabinet excluded several Gaullists, among whomMichel Debré, while he named several Independent Republicans members, such asMichel Poniatowski, close to Giscard, himself namedMinister of Economy and Finances.[10] AMinistry of Information was also re-created and put under the authority of an ultra-conservative,Philippe Malaud.[10] In June 1974, he initiated theconstruction of 13 nuclear plants in order to confront the "choc pétrolier" (oil crisis).[1][11]
In 1974, when Pompidou died, those close to Messmer encouraged him to run for president. He accepted at the condition of Chaban-Delmas,Valéry Giscard d'Estaing andEdgar Faure's withdrawals. Faure accepted, as well as Giscard on the condition that Chaban-Delmas also withdrew himself. However, Chaban-Delmas, despite theCanard enchaîné's campaign against him, maintained himself, leading Messmer to withdraw his candidacy. Finally,Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, a conservative rival of the Gaullists, waselected. He served as prime minister for another few weeks after Pompidou's death, ending his term after the presidential elections.Jacques Chirac replaced him on 29 May 1974.[12] After the election of Giscard, he never held again ministerial offices, and became one of the historical voices of Gaullism.[3]
Messmer remained a Member of Parliament for the Moselle department until 1988, and served as President of theLorraine regional assembly from 1968 to 1992. He was mayor of the town ofSarrebourg from 1971 to 1989. Messmer was also president of theRally for the Republic (RPR) parliamentary group during the firstcohabitation (1986–1988), underJacques Chirac's government.[1] In 1997 he testified as a witness during the trial ofMaurice Papon, charged ofcrimes against humanity committed under theVichy regime, and declared: "The time has come when the Frenchmen could stop hating themselves and begin to grant pardon to themselves".[13] Along with some other former Resistants, he demanded Papon'spardon in 2001.[1]
He died in 2007 aged 91, just four days after fellow Prime MinisterRaymond Barre. He was the last surviving major French Politician to have been a member of the Free French forces.
Governmental functions
Electoral mandates
National Assembly
Regional Council
General Council
Municipal Council
An important figure of the French Resistance during World War II, Pierre Messmer was a member of theOrdre de la Libération, and the recipient of numerous decorations including the highest rank of theLégion d'honneur. In 2006, he was named Chancellier de l'Ordre de la Libération after the death of GeneralAlain de Boissieu.[2] He was also an officer of theAmerican Legion.[2]
In 1992 he became president of theInstitut Charles de Gaulle and, in 1995, of theFondation Charles de Gaulle.[1]
He also became elected as a member of theAcadémie française (the French language academy) in 1999, replacing a Gaullist comrade,Maurice Schumann.[1] He was also a member of theFrench Academy of Moral and Political Sciences since 1988, and, since 1976, of theAcadémie des sciences d'outre-mer (Academy of Sciences of Overseas Territories). He was named perpetual secretary of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences in 1995.[2] He was also chancellor of theInstitut de France (1998–2005) before becoming honorary chancellor.[2]
In October 2001, Messmer succeeded to the General Jean Simon as President of theFondation de la France libre (Foundation of Free France).[2]
France:
Grand Cross of theNational Order of the Legion of Honour (1993)
Grand Officer of theNational Order of the Legion of Honour (1974)
Indonesia:
Star of the Republic of Indonesia, 2nd Class (1972)[14]Changes
Changes
Changes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of the Armies 1960–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of the Overseas 1971–1972 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of France 1972–1974 | Succeeded by |
