Jacques Soustelle

Jacques Soustelle (Montpellier, France, February 3, 1912 - August 6, 1990) was a French politician and ethnologist, specialist in Mesoamerican cultures. He became director of the Hoe Museum in Paris in 1938.

Biography

Anti-fascist, he allied himself with the French resistance and General Charles de Gaulle in London. He was head of information and intelligence services. He was Minister of Information and after the Colonies in 1945. Secretary General of the Rally of the French People (RPF) from 1947 to 1951, he became Governor General of Algeria in 1955-56.

He was in favor of the integration of the Muslim community in the then French departments. Soustelle contributed to de Gaulle's return to power and was Minister of Information in 1958. In 1959, he was appointed Minister of State in charge of Foreign Affairs.

His opinions opposed De Gaulle's policy in favor of the Independence of Algeria (see Algerian War of Independence) and he was dismissed from the cabinet and from the Gaullist Party Union for the New Republic (UNR) in 1960. His actions in favor of an Algeria within the French Republic led him to be investigated for attacking the authority of the State.

He lived in exile between 1961 and 1968. After being pardoned, he returned to politics.

Soustelle was a member of Parliament for Mayenne in 1945-46 and then for the Rhône (1951-58) as a Gaulist and from 1973 to 1978 as a member of the centrist Reformers party).

In 1981 he received the Alfonso Reyes International Award.

He was elected member of the French Academy in 1983. He published: Envers et contre tout, Aimée et souffrante Algérie, L'Espérance trahie, l'Art du Mexique, Mexique et les Quatre Soleils.

Books

• Cotidian Life of the Aztecs on the eve of the Conquest
• The Olmecas (1979)
• The Otomí-Pame Family of Central Mexico
• The Mayas
• The Universe of Aztecs