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 ten days before his actual birthday. Monroe and Kennedy had mutual friends and although they sometimes had casual sexual encounters, there is no evidence that their relationship was serious. After Monroe returned to LA from New York City, she resumed filming and celebrated her 36th birthday on the set on June 1. She was again absent for several days, which led 20th Century Fox to fire her on June 7 and sue her for breach of contract, demanding $750,000 in damages. She was replaced by Lee Remick, but after co-star Dean Martin refused to make the film with anyone other