Alain Peyrefitte

Who was Alain Peyrefitte?

Alain Peyrefitte was a French scholar and politician.

He was a confidant of Charles De Gaulle and had a long career in public service, serving as a diplomat in Germany and Poland.

He was Minister of Information from 1962 to 1966, establishing the rules of presidential debates between the two electoral rounds.

He served as Minister of Justice from 1977 to 1981, and was involved in the affair surrounding the mysterious death of Robert Boulin in 1979.

He became a member of the Académie française in 1977.

He wrote The Immobile Empire, and Quand la Chine s'éveillera... le monde tremblera.

Outside France he is probably best known for his book Le Mal Français, which addresses the question of whether there is something unique to the French character that has caused some of the country's peculiar recurring problems. The book places his own observations and experiences as a journalist and government minister inside a panoramic view of French and European history from the medieval to the modern era.

Upon his death in 1999 he was honored by burial in Les Invalides which also houses the tomb of Napoleon and other revered national leaders.