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.