Foreign policy of the François Mitterrand administration maintaining as many options as possible until forced to pursue a particular course. However, once he made a choice he kept his ministers on a tight leash. Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Chevènement lost his ministry over his opposition to French participation in the First Gulf War. Initially, Mitterrand, like British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, was vary of German reunification, fearing that it would lead to Germany gaining too much power. He was reluctant to take action because Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev warned it would lead to a military coup d'état in the Soviet Union. Mitterrand did speak in favour of
Death of Marilyn Monroe or CIA, who wished to use the murder as a "point of pressure ... against the Kennedys." The book was heavily criticized in reviews, and later that year Mailer recanted his allegations in an interview with Mike Wallace for "60 Minutes", stating that he had made them to ensure commercial success for his book, and that he believes Monroe's death was "ten to one" an "accidental suicide". Two years later, Robert F. Slatzer published "The Life and Curious Death of Marilyn Monroe" (1975), based on Capell's pamphlet. In addition to his assertion that Monroe was killed by Robert F. Kennedy,