Jean Monnet

Jean Monnet (1888-1979), French statesman and financier, born in Cognac. He left school at the age of 16. During World War I (1914-1918) he was the representative of France on the Inter-Allied Maritime Commission, which arranged purchase and transport of raw materials. From 1919 to 1923 he was first deputy secretary general of the League of Nations. Monnet was active in international financial affairs through the 1920s and '30s. In 1939 he was appointed to the Franco-British Economic Coordination Committee, concerned with the production of goods for World War II (1939-1945). In June 1943 Monnet became part of the French Committee of National Liberation, serving the Free French movement in Algiers and London. After the war he was involved in the implementation of his plan for French economic recovery through systematic increase of production. From 1952 to 1955 Monnet was president of the European Coal and Steel Community, which had been established according to plans for which he was largely responsible. In 1955, Monnet founded the Action Committee for a United States of Europe; he remained as its head until 1975, when it was disbanded.