Faure, Edgar (1908–1988)

French Radical politician, prime minister 1952 and 1955–56, when he was the first prime minister since 1876 to dissolve the national assembly rather than resign after a no-confidence vote. As education minister after the student revolt of 1968, he reformed the curriculum and university management, giving institutions autonomy and introducing staff–student representation. He was president of the national assembly 1973–78.

A lawyer by training, Faure was France's assistant prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials in 1945. Elected deputy for the Jura département 1946–58 and rarely out of ministerial office 1949–58, he led his party's conservative wing against Pierre Mendès-France. Apppointed professor of law at Dijon University from 1962, he returned to government under President de Gaulle, as minister for agriculture 1966–68, for education 1968–69 and, under Georges Pompidou, for social affairs 1972–73. Faure also published historical and political works and (under the pseudonym Edgar Sunday) detective novels.