Georges Bonnet
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Georges-Étienne Bonnet (July 22/23, 1889 - June 18, 1973) was a French politician and leading figure in the Radical-Socialist Party.
Bonnet studied law and political science at the Sorbonne. He launched a political career after marrying the niece of a prominent politician. Bonnet served in the Chamber of Deputies from 1924-28 and again from 1929-40. He was appointed undersecretary of state in 1925, the first in a series of high ministerial positions throught the 1920s and 1930s. After a tour as ambassador to the United States in 1936, Camille Chautemps appointed him finance minister in 1937. This was followed in April 1938 by an appointment as Foreign Minister under Édouard Daladier. Bonnet was a staunch supporter of the Munich Agreement in 1938 and was firmly opposed to taking military action against Nazi expansion, preferring to follow a course of appeasment instead. He was demoted to minister of justice with the coming of war in September 1939.
Bonnet supported the Vichy government and served on the National Council from 1941 to 1942, but he left France before the Allies invaded. After the war, proceedings were begun against him but eventually dropped, though he was expelled from the Radical Party in 1944. Readmitted in 1952, he was once again expelled in 1955 for refusing to support Pierre Mendès-France. Nevertheless, he was once again elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1956 and continued to serve in that body until 1968.