Pierre Cot

Pierre Jules Cot (20 November 1895, in Grenoble – 21 August 1977, Paris), was a French politician and leading figure in the Popular Front government of the 1930s.

[2] The British Secret Intelligence Service describes him as "a highly controversial figure, vilified at the time by the French Right, and since accused of having been a Soviet agent".

He was conscious of the real aim of the Nazi policy of creating sailgliding clubs through the Hitlerjugend and supported the expansion of working class aero-clubs movement called Aviation Populaire as a countermeasure, but left office in February 1934 when the Stavisky Affair forced Daladier from power.

He oversaw the nationalisation of the aeronautical industry and the launch of a re-armament program to meet the challenge of the fast-growing German Luftwaffe.

He organized a fictitious sale to Hejaz, Finland and Brazil of war planes, that made a flight scale in Spain.

[4] The head of his ministerial office, Jean Moulin (later a leader of the French Resistance), made several trips to Spain.

When Daladier returned to office and signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler, Cot broke finally with the Radical Party.