Paul-Boncour, Joseph

Paul-Boncour, Joseph (zhôzĕf` pōl-bôNkr`), 1873–1972, French statesman. Although a Socialist, he remained independent of party ties from 1931 to 1945. He was permanent French delegate to the League of Nations (1932–36), was briefly premier (1932–33), and held several cabinet posts, notably the foreign ministry (1933–34, 1936, 1938). He voted (1940) against granting full powers to Marshal Pétain. In 1945 he was a delegate to the conference at San Francisco to draw up a charter for the United Nations. Paul-Boncour long advocated disarmament and an international police force as the sole effective means of preserving peace. His personal Recollections of the Third Republic (tr. 1958) is a political memoir.