Editing Pierre Mendès France (section)

==Third Republic and World War II==
[[File:Pierre Mendès-France 1932.jpg|thumb|left|Mendès France in 1932]]
In 1932, Mendès France was elected member of the [[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Chamber of Deputies]] for the [[Eure]] department; he was the Assembly's youngest member.<ref name=BD/> In [[1936 French legislative election|1936]] he came within 700 votes of losing to [[Modeste Legouez]], the president of the radical agrarian group the [[Comités de défense paysanne]] in what he said was his hardest electoral fight.<ref>[https://books.openedition.org/pur/18692 Pierre Mendès France, élu d’un département rural], Pierre Mendès France et la démocratie locale</ref> His ability was soon recognized, and in 1938 the government of [[Léon Blum]] appointed him Under Secretary of State for Finance.<ref name=BD/>

In October 1940, France was put on trial by the [[Vichy regime]] at the [[Hôtel de Ville, Clermont-Ferrand|courthouse in Clermont-Ferrand]] for desertion after he boarded the liner [[SS Massilia|SS ''Massilia'']] for [[Casablanca]] in Morocco to continue the fight against the Nazis.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110610161-008/pdf|title=The Massilia Affair and the Clermont-Ferrand Desertion Trials|first=James |last=Herbst|publisher=De Gruyter Oldenbourg|year= 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/societe/clermont-ferrand-rend-hommage-jean-zay-1432231752|title=Clermont-Ferrand rend hommage à Jean Zay|date=21 May 2015|newspaper=France Bleu|access-date=5 January 2025}}</ref> He was imprisoned for desertion.<ref name=BD/> He escaped and succeeded in reaching Britain, where he joined the [[Free French forces]] led by [[Charles de Gaulle]]. Mendès France later described his trial, conviction and subsequent escape in the celebrated documentary "''[[The Sorrow and the Pity]]''".<ref name=BD/>

During the latter years of the war, Mendès France served in the [[Free French Air Forces]] and flew in a dozen bombing raids.<ref name=BD/> After the [[Liberation of Paris]] in August 1944, he was appointed [[French Ministry for the Economy and Finance|Minister for National Economy]] in the [[Provisional Government of the French Republic|French provisional government]] by de Gaulle.<ref name=BD/> He later headed the French delegation to the 1944 [[United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference]] at [[Bretton Woods, New Hampshire|Bretton Woods]].<ref name=BD/>

Mendès France soon fell out with the Finance Minister, [[René Pleven]].<ref name=BD/> Mendès France supported [[Wage Regulation|state regulation of wages and prices]] to control inflation, while Pleven favoured generally ''[[laissez-faire]]'' policies.<ref name=BD/> When de Gaulle sided with Pleven, Mendès France resigned.<ref name=BD/> Nonetheless, de Gaulle valued Mendès France's abilities, and appointed him as a director of the [[International Bank for Reconstruction and Development]], and as French representative to the [[UN Economic and Social Council|United Nations Economic and Social Council]].