Bidault, Georges (zhôrzh bēdō`), 1899–1983, French political leader. An influential columnist (1932–39), he was imprisoned (1940–41) in World War II and then joined the French underground, becoming its leader. A founder of the Mouvement Républicain Populaire (MRP), one of France's leading postwar parties, he was president of the provisional government (1946), premier (1949–50), and several times foreign minister. Although a strong supporter of Charles de Gaulle in 1958, Bidault opposed the Gaullist policy of Algerian independence and broke with the MRP. In 1962, announcing that he was going underground, he formed the National Council of Resistance within the terrorist Secret Army Organization (OAS); the French government accused Bidault of having become head of the OAS. In exile from 1962, Bidault lived in Brazil and then in Belgium before returning (1968) to France.

Bibliography

See his autobiography (tr. 1967).

Bidault, Georges (-Augustin)

(born Oct. 5, 1899, Moulins, France—died Jan. 27, 1983, Cambo-les-Bains, near Bayonne) French statesman and Resistance leader in World War II. After being imprisoned in Germany (1940), he returned to France (1941) and worked with the National Council of Resistance, which he headed in 1943. He helped found the Popular Republican Movement (1944) and supported Charles de Gaulle's wartime government. After the war he briefly served twice as prime minister and three times as minister of foreign affairs. In 1958 he broke with de Gaulle and opposed Algerian independence. He advocated terrorism to prevent independence, went underground, and was forced into exile (1962–68).