Businessweek Archives  France's Socialist Sun King
International BOOKS   A remarkable political career will end
next May when the longest-ruling Western leader of this century
--French President Franois Mitterrand--retires at 78 after 14
years in power. Looking back, it's hard to fathom how this aloof
chameleon of a politician could have had such a long run. In a
country where political conviction supposedly counts, Socialist
Mitterrand has been as strong-spined as a crpe suzette. Starting
out as an archconservative, he switched in middle age to rabid
Marxism and later turned moderate, with lots of twists and turns
in between.  A recent outpouring of assessments by French
writers is only adding to the enigma. One new book--researched,
amazingly, with the President's help--recounts his work for the
pro-Nazi Vichy regime in World War II. The book has shocked
Mitterrand's closest allies by disclosing his 40-year
friendship, lasting into the 1980s, with the former Vichy
security chief, who sent thousands of Frenc