The Father of Europe the Father
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32048-1.qxp_CDD 12 / 313x210 16.01.19 16:23 Page 1 Cover: alain kissling / atelierk.org DEBATES Inner Layout: atelier Kinkin AND DOCUMENTS Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe COLLECTION THE FATHER Ferme de Dorigny 12 MARCH 2019 CH - 1015 Lausanne www.jean-monnet.ch OF EUROPE THE LIFE AND TIMES 12 OF JEAN MONNET RICHARD MAYNE RICHARD MAYNE ORIGINAL DRAFT BY RICHARD MAYNE CLIFFORD P. HACKETT CLIFFORD P. NEW AND REVISED TEXT AND COMPILATION OF TEXT BY CLIFFORD P. HACKETT THE FATHER OF EUROPE THE FATHER ISSN 2296-7710 FONDATION JEAN MONNET POUR L’EUROPE THE FATHER OF EUROPE THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JEAN MONNET ORIGINAL DRAFT BY RICHARD MAYNE NEW AND REVISED TEXT AND COMPILATION OF TEXT BY CLIFFORD P. HACKETT Preface 3 A short, personal (and neglected) biography of Jean Monnet Jean Monnet, the French ‘ father of Europe,’ had two English aides, The Europe father of François Duchêne and Richard Mayne, both bilingual in French and both working for him about six years but at different times in the 1950s and 1960s. Each eventually aspired to write a biography of Monnet and each succeeded but in different ways. I knew both quite well. Following is the slightly edited and partial text written by Mayne Cataloging Information from 1966 to 1975. When he started writing, Richard had just left Monnet’s employ where he had worked, from 1956 to 1958 and Hackett, Clifford P. from 1962 to 1966. With Monnet, Mayne discussed writing a short, The Father of Europe, the Life and Times of Jean Monnet/ popular sketch from public sources i.e. without any interviews with Clifford P. Hackett Monnet or others who knew him. Monnet, who was working already Includes bibliographical references and index on his own memoirs with collaborator François Fontaine, agreed, apparently without much consideration or later recall. Identifiers : ISBN 978-0-692-19234-4, Jean Monnet Council. 505 Constitution Ave. N. E. Washington DC 20002 USA When Mayne sent his mentor several chapters in 1975, Monnet was Library of Congress Control Number: 2018911012 very angry, Mayne reported. ‘You have betrayed me,’ he was told. Subjects : 1. Monnet, Jean 1888-1979 2. Statesmen – Europe – Mayne referred to the earlier discussion which Monnet then recalled, biography 3. European Union – History. he quieted but asked Richard not to publish anything until his own DDC 940,5092–dc22 memoirs were out. Mayne agreed. The Jean Monnet Mémoires were published in 1976 three years before his death, and 88 years after his Registered Copyright 2018 by Clifford P. Hackett birth. Mayne’s 524-page text was never published. His London publisher let him keep an advance but told him there was no market for another large text with the Mémoires about to be published. Mayne gave me a copy of his draft text about 1989. Later we discussed a possi- ble reduced, reedited version. We each suggested changes, most to update references and to shorten passages too detailed for readers who already had access to Monnet’s own work and to other accounts. But nothing came of our efforts. The first English biography of Monnet ever published was Duchêne’s 4 which appeared to good reviews in 1994 (Jean Monnet : The First 5 Statesman of Interdependence, NY). Duchêne had worked for Monnet from 1953 to 1955 and from 1958 to 1962. Duchêne and Mayne were boyhood friends but neither was initially aware of the other’s biographical efforts. When I told Duchêne in 1992 of Mayne’s work, he was surprised. He then asked Mayne for a copy and used it occasionally in his own work. The Europe father of The Europe father of There are striking differences between the Duchêne and Mayne texts. Duchêne’s is much longer and more detailed but impersonal and entirely detached from his own close work over six years with Mon- net. Mayne’s is an account of Monnet’s life and work with frequent personal insights and references to conversations and other interac- tions with his mentor. Duchêne’s biography never mentions his work- ing relations with Monnet nor the many instances where he discussed with him, and with others, writing about his life. After 1996 Mayne and I both became involved in other matters. His text has rested with me undisturbed ever since although I mentioned its existence in several books and to others who wanted to do a Mon- net biography. By then, Mayne had already published several well received books on Europe and other subjects. He also reviewed books and films for many years. He died in 2009. Speech by Jean Monnet at the first session of the Action Committee for the United States of Europe in January 1956. © All rights reserved, Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe Recently another Monnet biographer and scholar, German historian Abbreviations Klaus Schwabe, responded to Mayne references in a book I wrote (Who Wrote the Memoirs of Jean Monnet ? NY 2016) to suggest the Mayne manuscript be made available to others. The text below, titled by Mayne as ‘The Father of Europe ; The Life and Times of ACUSE Action Committee for the United States of Europe Jean Monnet’, is a result of that suggestion. AFP Agence France Presse This text is Mayne’s but with many deletions and some minor changes in tense and style to reflect the many years of passage since he CDU/CSU German Christian Democrats wrote. It constitutes about 25% of his original work. These changes are based on the editorial authority given me by Mayne. For more EC European Community 7 information on the history of this text, see the Postscript. ECSC European Coal and Steel Community In a few cases I have added clarifying facts or updated references ; these are indicated in italics. EEC European Economic Community Clifford P. Hackett EFTA European Free Trade Association The Europe father of July, 2018 EU European Union FJME Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe [Lausanne] FRUS Foreign Relations of US (annual) HMSO His (Her) Majesty’s Stationary Office JMM Jean Monnet Memoirs (U.S.ed) NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization OEEC Organization for European Economic Cooperation OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OH Oral History SPD German Social Democrats Contents Preface ...................................................................................... 3 Abbreviations ............................................................................ 7 I. Introduction ........................................................................ 11 II. Peasant and adventurer ....................................................... 23 9 III. Banker ............................................................................... 33 IV. Anglo-American and pioneer ............................................ 47 V. Grey eminence .................................................................... 57 The Europe father of VI. Frenchman ........................................................................ 79 VII. Planner ............................................................................ 89 VIII. European ........................................................................ 97 The Beginnings .............................................................. 98 The Schuman Plan ....................................................... 107 The Pleven Plan ............................................................ 139 The Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) ....................... 147 The Relaunching .......................................................... 158 IX. Sage .................................................................................. 171 Postscript ............................................................................... 217 References .............................................................................. 219 Index ..................................................................................... 229 About the authors ................................................................. 247 I. Introduction A grey eminence is emerging from the shadows. When he was in his eighties, almost everyone had heard of Jean Monnet. Honours had come to him : honorary doctorates, half a dozen international prizes, presidential medals and decorations that in Britain would entitle him to be addressed as ‘Sir Jean’. Yet titles meant little to Monnet – not nothing, but little. There 11 were two kinds of people, he once said : those who want to be something and those who want to do something. His choice had always been action. The action that his name evokes for most people is the uniting of Western Europe. ‘Mr Europe’ is one of his press nicknames ; The Europe father of the ‘father of Europe’ is another ; but he demurred at both. He seldom used metaphors himself. In this case, however, the image is appropriate. Parenthood takes two ; and Monnet was the insti- gator, with Robert Schuman, of the first European Community – the Coal and Steel Community, better known as ‘the Schuman Plan,’ for the French Foreign Minister who brought to birth what had been Monnet’s original idea. That was in 1950. In the same year, Monnet fathered René Pleven’s plan for a European Defence Community with an integrated European army but that proved to be premature. Five years later, Monnet supplied the impetus for the ‘relaunching of Europe’– the plan for the Common Market and Euratom. They came to fruition just before General Charles de Gaulle returned to power in France ; it was just in time. Through successive cri- ses, Monnet’s Europe lived on to survive de Gaulle himself. Three years later after the General’s death, Monnet was there to welcome Britain, Denmark and Ireland into the growing