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 her Monroe rights, in an attempt to gain full rights to Monroe's estate. In 1996, Anna Strasberg hired CMG Worldwide, a celebrity-legacy licensing group, to manage the licensing rights, and in the same year prevented Odyssey Group, Inc. from auctioning effects that Monroe's business manager Inez Melson had obtained when she died. Between 1996 and 2001 CMG entered into 700 licensing agreements with merchandisers. Against Monroe's wishes, Lee Strasberg had never distributed her effects amongst her friends, and in 1999 Anna Strasberg commissioned Christie's to auction them, netting $13.4 million. In 2000, she founded Marilyn Monroe LLC. Marilyn Monroe LLC's