Bonnet, Georges

Bonnet, Georges

(zhôrzh bônā`), 1889–1973, French politician. He entered politics as a Radical Socialist. A financial expert, he was prominent at international conferences on reparations and other economic questions. He was ambassador (1937) to the United States and several times finance minister, notably in the Camille Chautemps cabinet (1937–38). His stringent fiscal policy was partially responsible for the fall of the Chautemps government. As foreign minister (1938–39) in Édouard Daladier's cabinet, Bonnet helped to draft the Munich Pact, and as a member of the Vichy National Council (1941), he supported collaboration with Germany. Excluded from the Radical party, Bonnet entered the French National Assembly in 1956 as a dissident radical, serving until May, 1968.