Guy Mollet (31 December 1905 – 3 October 1975) was Prime Minister of France from 1 February 1956 to 13 June 1957, succeeding Edgar Faure and preceding Maurice Bourges-Maunoury. He was a member of SFIO and the Socialist Party of France, and he was unpopular among both the left and right for his policies during the Suez Crisis and the Algerian War.
Biography[]
Guy Mollet was born in Flers, France in 1905, the son of a textile worker. He joined the SFIO in 1923 and became a teacher in Arras. He became a French Resistance leader during 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 from 1946 to 1969. 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. He died in 1975.