Jouvenel, Henry de [key], 1876–1935, French statesman and journalist. Although from an early age influential in politics, he refused to join a party, claiming that existing groups only pandered to the masses. He advocated a modified form of syndicalism. Long editor of the Matin, Jouvenel was elected (1921) to the senate, where he generally aligned himself with the left. He was minister of public instruction in 1924 and a delegate to the League of Nations in 1922 and in 1924. As French high commissioner (1925–26) in Syria he employed stern methods to quell a rebellion. Ambassador to Italy in early 1933, he labored to bring Benito Mussolini into the French camp. In 1912, Jouvenel married the French novelist Colette; they were later divorced.
See R. Binion, Defeated Leaders (1960).
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