SCHUMANN, MAURICE

SCHUMANN, MAURICE (1911–1998), French politician and journalist. Born in Paris, Schumann worked for the French news agency, Havas, in London and Paris, and in 1939 became political editor of L'Aube. Following the fall of France, Schumann went to London and was head of the French radio service of the BBC from 1940 to 1944. He was a member of the provisional consultative assembly from 1944 to 1945 and was one of the founders of the Mouvement Républicain Populaire (MRP). From 1945 to 1958 Schumann represented the MRP in the Constituent Assembly and the National Assembly and later became head of the party. Subsequently he held office in several coalition cabinets as foreign minister (1951–54) and was a minister of state for scientific research (1967–68) and minister of social affairs (1968–69). In 1969, following the election of Georges Pompidou as president of France, Schumann was once more made minister of foreign affairs (serving until 1973), in which capacity he faithfully carried out his government's pro-Arab policy. In 1974 he was elected to the French Academy. Schumann converted to Christianity in his youth and took no part in Jewish affairs. His writings include Le Germanisme en Marche (1938); Honneur et patrie (1945); Le vrai malaise des intellectuels de   gauche (1957); and two novels, Le Rendez-vous avec quelqu'un (1962) and La Voix du couvre-feu (1964).