Jean-Marcel Jeanneney

Who was Jean-Marcel Jeanneney?

Jean-Marcel Jeanneney was a minister in various French governments in the 1950s and 1960s, and France's first ambassador to Algeria in the immediate aftermath of the Algerian War. Born in Paris, he has been a professor of economics and is the founder of the Observatoire Français des Conjonctures Economiques.

The only son of Jules Jeanneney, Jean-Marcel Jeanneney graduated in economics from the Paris Institute of Political Studies. He taught at universities in Dijon and Grenoble in the late 1930s.

Jeanneney was his father's Chief of Staff during the provisional government. In 1958, the younger Jeanneney was appointed by Jacques Rueff to the Rueff-Pinay committee, a group of experts on economic reform whose ultimate product, the Rueff-Pinay plan, lowered French tariffs, returned the French franc to full convertibility after re-evaluating it, and reformed financial markets.

Jeanneney was Minister of Industry in the Michel Debré government from 1959 to 1962, ending when he was appointed French ambassador and high commissioner to Algeria. He held this post for six months, immediately after Algeria gained independence from France.