Bernard Cornut-Gentille

{{Short description|French administrator and politician}}

{{infobox Politician

| name = Bernard Cornut-Gentille

| office = Minister of Posts

| term_start = 1959

| term_end = 1960

| president = Charles de Gaulle

| primeminister = Michel Debré

| predecessor = Eugène Thomas

| successor = Michel Maurice-Bokanowski

| birth_date = {{birth date|1909|07|26|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Brest, France

| death_date = {{death date and age|1992|01|21|1909|07|26|df=yes}}

| death_place = Paris, France

| nationality = French

| party = Union for the New Republic

| alma_mater = École Libre des Sciences Politiques

| office3 = Subprefect of Riems

| office4 = High Commissioner in French Equatorial Africa

| office5 = High Commissioner in French West Africa

| office6 = French permanent representative to the United Nations Security Council

| office7 = French ambassador to Argentina

| office8 = Minister Without Portfolio

| office9 = Minister of Overseas France

| office10 = Member of the French National Assembly, Gaullist Party

| office11 = Mayor of Cannes

| office12 = Member of the French National Assembly, non-inscrit

| office13 = Prefect of Ille-et-Vilaine

| term3 = 1943-1945

| term4 = 1948-1951

| term5 = 1951-1956

| term6 = 1956-1957

| term7 = 1957

| term8 = June 1, 1958-June 3, 1958

| term9 = June 3, 1958-January, 1959

| term10 = 1958-1968

| term11 = 1959-1978

| term12 = 1973-1978

| term13 = 1945-1948

}}

Bernard Cornut-Gentille (26 July 1909{{cite book |title=Chroniques d'outre-mer: études et informations |date=1958 |publisher=Documentation francaise, Éditions de la Présidence du Conseil. |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LKXR75cmxLIC&q=Bernard+Cornut-Gentille+%2226+juillet+1909%22+brest |access-date=23 February 2024 |language=fr}} – 21 January 1992{{cite news |title=La mort de Bernard Cornut-Gentille Un esprit indépendant |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1992/01/25/la-mort-de-bernard-cornut-gentille-un-esprit-independant_3875451_1819218.html |access-date=24 February 2024 |work=Le Monde |date=25 January 1992 |language=fr}}) was a French administrator and politician.

Born in Brest, Finistère, Cornut-Gentille studied at the École Libre des Sciences Politiques. In 1943 he was appointed as the Subprefect of Reims, but resigned to assist the Free French delegate Émile Bollaert.{{cite book |last1=Graux |first1=Henry |title=Mémoires d'Henry Graux, préfet du Calvados de 1940 à 1942 |date=1994 |publisher=Conseil général du Calvados, Direction des Archives départementales |isbn=978-2-86014-015-7 |page=110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sdOwAAAAIAAJ&q=Bernard+Cornut-Gentille+sous-pr%C3%A9fet+de+reims+%221943%22 |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=fr}}{{cite book |last1=Coston |first1=Henry |title=L'assemblee introuvable: le trombinoscope de la Veme bis |date=1963 |publisher=Imprimerie réunies |page=70 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M51iAAAAMAAJ&q=Bernard+Cornut-Gentille+sous-pr%C3%A9fet+de+reims+%221943%22 |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=fr}} Following the Liberation of France he served as Prefect of Ille-et-Vilaine,{{cite book |title=Who's who in France, Paris |date=1988 |publisher=J. Lafitte |isbn=978-2-85784-023-7 |page=1274 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=picMAQAAMAAJ&q=Bernard+Cornut-Gentille+%22pr%C3%A9fet+d%27Ille-et-Vilaine%22 |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=fr}} of the Somme,{{cite book |title=Récueil des textes authentiques des programmes et engagements électoraux des députés proclamés élus à la suite des élections générales |date=1958 |publisher=l'Assemblée nationale |page=74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2txJAQAAIAAJ&q=%22pr%C3%A9fet%20de%20somme%22 |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=fr}} and of the Bas-Rhin.{{cite book |last1=Wittmann |first1=Bernard |title=Une histoire de l'Alsace, autrement: (Chap. XIV à XVI): 1940 à nos jours |date=1999 |publisher=Ed. Rhyn un Mosel |isbn=978-2-9514359-0-2 |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AxXjAAAAMAAJ&q=Bernard+Cornut-Gentille+%22pr%C3%A9fet+du+bas-rhin%22 |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=fr}} In 1948 he was appointed High Commissioner in French Equatorial Africa then, from 1951 to 1956, High Commissioner in French West Africa.{{cite book |last1=Steinberg |first1=S. |title=The Statesman's Year-Book: Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1956 |date=28 December 2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-27085-5 |page=999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qUzODQAAQBAJ&dq=Bernard+Cornut-Gentille+%221951%22+afrique+occidentale+fran%C3%A7aise&pg=PA999 |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Henige |first1=David P. |title=Colonial Governors |date=1970 |publisher=The University of Wisconsin Press |page=32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nxzt6p3FfqQC&q=Bernard%20Cornut-Gentille |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=en}}

After this, he served as France's permanent representative to the United Nations Security Council, and in 1957 as ambassador to Argentina.{{cite book |title=Recueil général des traités de la France |date=1976 |publisher=Documentation française |pages=673–674 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VyGnE8uymIC&q=Bernard+Cornut-Gentille+%221957%22+argentine |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=fr}}

Standing for the Gaullist Party, the UNR, he was elected to represent Alpes-Maritimes in the 1958 election to the National Assembly of France. He had been minister without portfolio in June 1958, then Minister of Overseas France from 3 June 1958 to 8 January 1959 in the governments of Charles de Gaulle. Under Michel Debré he served as Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones from 8 January 1959 to 5 February 1960. He resigned ministerial office at the same time as Jacques Soustelle, over the handling of the affair of the barricades in Algiers and broke with the Gaullists.

He sat in the National Assembly as an independent ({{langx|fr|non-inscrit}}) until 1968 and again from 1973 to 1978. Locally, he served as mayor of Cannes from 1959 to 1978. Here he initiated a programme of redevelopment and renovation.

His nephew François Cornut-Gentille has served as representative of the Haute-Marne department since 1993 and mayor of Saint-Dizier since 1995.