Monnet, Jean (1888-1979)

French international financier and the father of the European Union. From 1919 to 1923, Monnet was Secretary General of the League of Nations. In the early 1930s, he was instrumental in the post-war economic recovery of several Central and Eastern European nations. In 1929, he founded and then became co-manager of Bancamerica-Blair, a U.S. bank in San Francisco. From 1934 to 1936, he assisted in the reorganization of a railroad network in China.

In 1938, Monnet was sent to to the United States by the French President, Edouard Daladier, to negotiate an order for military aircraft. In August 1940, Monnet was again dispatched to the United States, this time as a member of the British Supply Council, to negotiate the purchase of war supplies. Monnet played a key role in persuading President Franklin D. Roosevelt to launch a massive arms production program to supply the Allies with military materials. In 1943, he became a member of France’s National Liberation Committee, the Free French Government in Algiers.

In 1950, Monnet conceived the idea of the European Community, and in 1955 he founded the Action Committee for the United States in Europe, which became a driving force in favor of the European Union. In 1976, Monnet was proclaimed an “Honorary Citizen of Europe.”