Oral history interview with Francis Blanchard, 1999

Biographical Note

Director-General, International Labour Organization

Scope and Contents

Born 1916 in Paris, France; education: law and politics at the University of Paris (IV); career: civil service in Morocco and Tunisia, 1940; assistant to Lucien Romier, member of Vichy government; involvement in Resistance activities; involvement in negotiation of return of Soviet soldiers; International Refugee Organization (IRO), 1947-1951; joining with International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva, 1951; appointment to assistant director general, 1956; appointment to deputy director-general of ILO, 1968; director-general of ILO, 1974-1989; themes: ILO operations and awarding of Nobel Peace Prize, selection of new director-general; role of Wilfred Jenks; ILO incentive against poverty and poor working conditions; 1977 withdrawal of US from ILO; Cold War-era international relations; benefits and drawbacks of tripartism; ILO promotion of human rights; apartheid debate and withdrawal of South Africa from ILO; social clause; child labor; Solidarity labor movement in Poland; assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II; debate over international labor standards; relationships with World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF); approach to global economic inequality; conflict between international economic organizations and communist system; decline in influence of Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC); New International Economic Order; economic relations with China and Israel; departure from UN

Subjects

• Apartheid--South Africa.
• Blanchard, Francis--Interviews.
• Cold War.
• Emmerij, Louis, interviewer.
• Income distribution.
• International Labour Organisation--Officials and employees--Interviews.
• International Monetary Fund.
• International Refugee Organization.
• International economic relations.
• International relations.
• Interviews
• John Paul II, Pope, 1920-2005.
• Labor laws and legislation, International.
• NSZZ "Solidarność" (Labor organization)
• Nobel Prizes--History.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• United Nations--History--20th century.
• United Nations. Economic and Social Council.
• World Bank.
• World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--France.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, 2000