After receiving amnesty in 1959, Bousquet became active again in politics by supporting left-wing politicians through the 1970s and becoming a regular visitor in the 1980s of François Mitterrand after his election as president.

He was ultimately indicted by the French Ministry of Justice in 1991 for his decisions during the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in 1942, which led to Jewish children being deported and killed in German extermination camps in Eastern Europe.

In March 1930, he and a friend, the latter dying during the episode, became national heroes after they had personally saved dozens of people from drowning during floods in southwestern France.

[1] He was awarded the Legion of Honour and the Médaille d'or des belles actions ("Golden medal for fine deeds").

Bousquet was detached to the Presidency of the Council to head the technical service in charge of the reconstruction of the flooded southern regions.

In April 1942, as the Schutzstaffel (SS) was taking over security duties in the Occupied Zone, Pierre Laval appointed Bousquet general secretary to the police.

Bousquet concentrated all police services under his personal authority and suppressed the branch led by Darquier de Pellepoix, general commissary of Jewish affairs.

Under the pretext of not separating families, Prime Minister Pierre Laval ordered that Jewish children under 16 be included in deportation convoys, which exceeded the Nazis' requirements.

Nonetheless, some scholarly sources insist that the Vichy government was unaware of the purpose of the deportation and believed that the Jews were being taken to provide a labour force in the East.

As the French police controlled the identity documents of 40,000 people, their assistance allowed the operation to send 2,000 Jews living in the city to concentration camps.

After ordering releases and destroying his archives, Bousquet resigned on 31 December 1943 and was replaced by Joseph Darnand, the head of the Milice.

In early 1944, the collaborationist press, including Je suis partout, attacked Bousquet and accused him of having served in the Vichy administration only to favour the Resistance.

[6] His cabinet director,(and fellow Vichy collaborationist) Jean-Paul Martin [fr],[b.Dec 31,1913-Dec 12,1986] was reported to have also helped some Resistance networks.

He was acquitted of the charge of "compromising the interests of the national defence" but was automatically declared guilty of indignité nationale for his involvement in the Vichy government.

He was given the minimum sentence of five years on dégradation nationale, a measure that was immediately lifted for "having actively and sustainably participated in the Resistance against the occupier".

After Jean Baylet's death in 1959, Bousquet was appointed to the Council of administration of the newspaper La Dépêche du Midi.

[10] The parquet général de Paris closed Bousquet's case by sending it to a court that no longer existed, which stirred outrage.

[11] In August 1992, Bousquet wrote a 60 page letter in his defence to the Paris Court of Appeals that made a number of false claims that have been refuted by historians.

[13] Didier was ruled sane although the court heard testimony about his mental problems and was convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison.