Lost Statesman: The Strange Story of Pierre Mendès-France

Introduction, VII
Map of France and North America, XX

Part I - Pre-War
1. Le Benjamin, 3
2. Deputy at 25, 11
3. 1934-39: Era of Anguish, 17
- The 1934 Riots, 17
- The Popular Front Worries the Radicals, 20
- Mendès Defends the Popular Front, 22
- Blum 'Discovers' Mendès, 24
- Mendès Silenced by Munich, 27

Part II - War
1. From Defeat to Liberation, 35
2. The 'Massilia', 41
3. Prisoner of Vichy, 43
4. A Chaplinesque Figure, 54
5. Airman in Britain, 55
6. Mendès and de Gaulle, 58
7. Mendès's Financial Salvation Plan Rejected, 59

Part III - The Nine Years' Eclipse
1. Voluntary Withdrawal, 65
2. Mendès and French Radicalism, 67
3. 'The Finest Brain in Parliament', 71
4. Mendès Nearly Succeeds in 1953, 74
5. Personal Close-up, 78
6. The Road to the Premiership, 81

Part IV - Mendès-France's 1954-55 Government
1. Indo-China, 87
2. Mendès versus The System, 96
3. Tunis: 'Like an Angel from Heaven', 103
4. The 'Emipire Wrecker' Campaign Starts, 109
5. The Personal Build-up, 120
6. The Fight over Germany, 125
7. P.M.F. Keeps His Promise to Churchill, 133
8. Smear Campaign Starts, 137
9. The Anti-Alcohol Drive, 142
10. Trouble Starts in Algeria, 146
11. The Malraux-Mauriac 'Plot', Or Mendès as the Torch-bearer of a New Liberalism, 151
12. The Half-hearted Mitterrand Plan for Algeria, 157
13. Mendès Goes European and Sees the Pope, 161
14. The Soustelle Appointment, 165
15. North Africa Kills Mendès-France Government, 168
16. After the Fall, 178

Part V - 1955: The Conquest of France that Failed
1. Enter Edgar Faure, 185
2. Conquering the Radical Party is Not Enough, 191
3. Mendès Asks 'What's Wrong With France?', 201
4. North African Summer, 1955, 209
- Before the August Explosion, 209
- Grandval Almost Lynched in Morocco, 211
- The Glaoui 'Saves' Faure, 221
- War in Algeria, 227
5. The Radical Congress of November, 1955, 233
6. Faure Dissolves the Assembly, 240
7. Mendès's Election Battle: Top Priority for Algeria, 244
8. Mendès in the Eure, 256

Part VI - The Era of National-Molletism
1. Enter Poujade, 269
2. Mendès's Election Failure, 273
3. Enter Guy Mollet, 276
4. The 6th of February at Algiers, 291
5. Severe Setback for the Intellectual Left, 301
6. Mendès-France's 7-point Programme of Immediate Reforms, 306
7. The Socialist Motion for a Cease-fire, 312
8. Mendès-France at Louviers, 314

Part VII - North African Close-up
1. National Revolution in Algeria, 321
2. A Reasonable Arab Land: Bourguiba's Tunisia, 349
3. Social Revolution in Morocco?, 375

Part VIII
The Suez Debate - Algerian War for Ever?, 391

Index, 421