Word: mend
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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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...
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...
...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...
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...