NEW FRENCH PREMIER

Chosen to lead France's 18th government since the Liberation: Finance Expert Rene Joel Simon Mayer.

Born: Paris, May 4, 1895, grandson of a rabbi, son of Jacob Justin Mayer, director of a dynamite company, and Marthe Rose Simone Dupont. A cousin by marriage of the famous Rothschild banking family, he has often represented Rothschild interests on company directorates.

Education: University of Paris, degrees in arts and law. Decorations: Croix de guerre for gallantry in World War I; a commander of the Legion of Honor. Private Life: Married to Denise-Henriette Bloch. His only son Antoine, a parachutist, was killed in World War II; a daughter Lise is married to a silk dealer. Political Career: Headed French armament mission to London 1939. Returning to France after the 1940 collapse, he was denied all posts under Petain's anti-Semitic laws; escaped to North Africa in 1943, where he joined the Free French in Algiers. After the liberation of Paris, De Gaulle made him Public Works and Transportation Minister; later, French Commissioner for German Affairs. In 1947 he represented France at the U.N. As Finance Minister in the first Schuman cabinet, he devalued the franc over Sir Stafford Cripps's objections. Becoming Finance Minister again in 1951, he angered France (and helped topple the government of Rene Pleven) by introducing, and sticking to, an austerity budget plan. Commented Mayer: "A good Finance Minister is always unpopular." In debate he is austere and biting: admired, not adored. Foreign Policy: Within his own Radical Socialist Party, he opposed the position taken by Leaders Herriot and Daladier against the European Army. Is a close friend of Europe's No. 1 internationalist, Jean Monnet, who heads the six-nation Schuman Plan coal-steel authority.

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