Jean Médecin
Jean Médecin (December 2, 1890 – November 18, 1965) was a French lawyer and politician. He was Mayor of Nice, France from 1928 to 1943 and from 1947 to 1965, and the father of Jacques Médecin, who succeeded him as mayor until 1990.
Before the war
He was born in Nice to a respectable family. After studying in Paris, he joined the military and fought in the First World War. In 1914 he was promoted to corporal, then in 1916 to the rank of captain. After the battle of Verdun he was awarded the French Legion of Honour and the Croix de Guerre.
Upon his return to Nice in 1919, he briefly practised as a lawyer before entering politics. In 1919, he was elected as a Municipal Councillor, and in 1928, Mayor of Nice. He achieved notoriety when he was allowed to stay as mayor for 34 years. He was elected Councillor General of Sospel (1931), then deputy of the first circumscription of Nice (1932).
Politically republican, democratic, independent and moderate, he sat within the left-leaning independents, then moved more to the centre with the local political party he created called “Le Rassemblement des Indépendants” (“The Assembly of Independents”). However, Médecin increasingly moved toward the far right, and joined Jacques Doriot's fascist Parti Populaire Français in 1936.