MENDES-FRANCE refuses to talk about General de Gaulle.

Pierre MENDES FRANCE (1907.1982)

Typewritten letter signed to journalist Paul Giannoli.

A page in-4° on paper with its letterhead. Paris. September 29, 1980.

Mendès France refuses to give an interview on General De Gaulle.

“Dear Sir, indeed, I have very good memories of the conversations we had when you published an article in France-Soir that concerned me. But the situation is significantly different today. As you may have noticed, for several years now I have refused all the requests for interviews made to me , both by the press and by television (…) I cannot accept your request and I hope you won't hold it against me. I have already been interviewed, a long time ago and on several occasions, about General De Gaulle and my relations with him. Perhaps you could find previous interviews in the television archives. In this case, I naturally authorize you to use them, provided however that you specify that it is an archive document..."

Appointed by Charles De Gaulle, in 1943, finance commissioner, in the French Committee for the National Liberation of Algiers, Mendès France represented France at the Bretton-Woods conference, before becoming Minister of the National Economy of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in September 1944.

Struck by illness, Pierre Mendès France distanced himself from French political life after 1972. He nevertheless supported François Mitterrand during the presidential election of 1981 and was particularly moved during the inauguration of the socialist president.