French people of the First Indochina War

François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 1916 – 8 January 1996) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former Socialist Party First Secretary, he was the first left-wing politician to assume the presidency under the Fifth Republic.
Due to family influences, Mitterrand started his political life on the Catholic nationalist right. He served under the Vichy regime during its earlier years. Subsequently he joined the Resistance, moved to the left, and held ministerial office several times under the Fourth Republic. Mitterrand opposed Charles de Gaulle's establishment of the Fifth Republic. Although at times a politically isolated figure, he outmanoeuvered rivals to become the left's standard bearer in the 1965 and 1974 presidential elections, before being elected president in the 1981 presidential election. He was re-elected in 1988 and remained in office until 1995.
Mitterrand invited the Communist Party into his first government, which was a controversial decision at the time. In the event, the Communists were boxed in as junior partners and, rather than taking advantage, saw their support erode. They left the cabinet in 1984. Early in his first term, he followed a radical left-wing economic agenda, including nationalisation of key firms and the introduction of the 39-hour work week, but after two years, with the economy in crisis, he somewhat reversed course. He instead pushed a socially liberal agenda with reforms such as the abolition of the death penalty, and the end of a government monopoly in radio and television broadcasting. He faced major controversy in 1985 after ordering the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace vessel docked in Auckland. Mitterrand’s foreign and defense policies built on those of his Gaullist predecessors, except as regards their reluctance to support European integration, which he reversed. His partnership with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl advanced European integration via the Maastricht Treaty, and he reluctantly accepted German reunification. During his time in office, he was a strong promoter of culture and implemented a range of costly "Grands Projets". He was the first French President to appoint a female Prime Minister, Édith Cresson, in 1991. Mitterrand was twice forced by the loss of a parliamentary majority into "cohabitation governments" with conservative cabinets led, respectively, by Jacques Chirac (1986–1988), and Édouard Balladur (1993–1995). Less than eight months after leaving office, he died from the prostate cancer he had successfully concealed for most of his presidency.
Beyond making the French Left electable, Mitterrand presided over the rise of the Socialist Party to dominance of the left, and the decline of the once-mighty Communist Party. (As a share of the popular vote in the first presidential round, the Communists shrank from a peak of 21.27% in 1969 to 8.66% in 1995, at the end of Mitterrand's second term.)

Pierre Isaac Isidore Mendès France (French: [pjɛʁ mɑ̃dɛs fʁɑ̃s]; 11 January 1907 – 18 October 1982) was a French politician who served as prime minister of France for eight months from 1954 to 1955. As a member of the Radical Party, he headed a government supported by a coalition of Gaullists (RPF), moderate socialists (UDSR), Christian democrats (MRP) and liberal-conservatives (CNIP). His main priority was ending the Indochina War, which had already cost 92,000 lives, with 114,000 wounded and 28,000 captured on the French side. Public opinion polls showed that, in February 1954, only 7% of the French people wanted to continue the fight to regain Indochina out of the hands of the Communists, led by Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh movement. At the 1954 Geneva Conference, Mendès France negotiated a deal that gave the Viet Minh control of Vietnam north of the seventeenth parallel, and allowed him to pull out all French forces. He is considered one of the most prominent statesmen of the French Fourth Republic.

Pierre Armand Gaston Billotte (8 March 1906 – 29 June 1992) was a French Army officer and politician. He was the son of General Gaston Billotte, who commanded parts of the French Army at the start of World War II. Pierre Billotte was himself notable for his combat actions during the Battle of France.

Pierre Gabriel Adhéaume de Chevigné (16 June 1909 – 4 April 2004) was a French politician, who was the Minister of Defence in the Fourth Republic between 14 May and 1 June 1958.

Émile Raymond Georges Marius Boudarel (21 December 1926 – 26 December 2003) was a French academic and militant communist who was accused of torturing French prisoners for the Viet Minh during the First Indochina War.

Pierre Abelin (May 16, 1909 – May 23, 1977) was a French Christian Democratic politician, parliamentarian and government minister. Abelin took part in the founding of the Popular Republican Movement (MRP). An adherent of the notion of building a 'third force' in French politics, he retained a staunch anti-Gaullist stance. He later became the general secretary of the Democratic Centre.Abelin was born and died in Poitiers. He represented the Vienne constituency in the first and second Constituent National Assemblies. He was Member of Parliament from Vienee between 1946 and 1958, and again from 1962 to 1974.He served as Secretary of State to the Presiding Council November 1947-July 1948, and in September 1948, as Secretary of State for Finances September 1952 to January 1953 and Secretary of State for Economic Affairs March 1955 to January 1956.Abelin moved to Châtellerault, where he was elected to the municipal council. He later became the mayor of Châtellerault.Abelin served as president of the High Council on Cooperation with Foreign Countries between 1956 and 1958. On June 17, 1957 he became the president of the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly. He also held positions in the United Nations.After the split in the Democratic Centre following the 1969 presidential election, the group led by Abelin and Jean Lecanuet (who rejected any reconciliation with the Gaullists) moved to form an alliance with the Radical Party. Abelin became one of the leaders of the new alliance, the Reforming Movement.He was Minister of Cooperation between May 27, 1974 to January 12, 1976. In his function as minister he initiated the process which would lead to the signing of the Lomé Convention in 1975.Pierre Abelin was the father of Jean-Pierre Abelin, who (as of 2009) is the mayor of Châtellerault.