The French economist Jean Monnet (1888-1979) was primarily responsible for the introduction of national economic planning in post-1945 France and was an outstanding leader in the postwar movement for the unification of Europe.

The son of an important brandy distiller, Jean Monnet was born at Cognac on Nov. 9, 1888. Highly intelligent, ambitious, and well-connected, while he was still a young man in his 20s he was appointed to represent France on the Interallied Maritime Commission during World War I. He participated in the preliminary meetings for the Versailles Conference and in 1919 was appointed deputy secretary general and financial adviser of the League of Nations.

On the death of his father in 1923, Monnet resigned from the League and took over the declining family business. After reorganizing and modernizing it, he became a free-lance economist and financial adviser to foreign governments. In this capacity he advised the Chinese how to manage...