René Pleven, French businessman and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 1993)

René Jean Pleven was a notable political figure of the French Resistance and Fourth Republic. An early associate of Jean Monnet then member of the Free French led by Charles de Gaulle, he took a leading role in colonial and financial matters including the Gaullist takeover of French Equatorial Africa in 1940, the creation of the Caisse Centrale de la France Libre in 1941, the Brazzaville Conference in 1944, and the nationalization of the largest French banks in 1945.

The prime minister of France, officially the prime minister of the French Republic, is the head of government of the French Republic and leader of its Council of Ministers, although the officeholder does not chair its meetings, as the president does.