He studied at the
University of Neuchâtel and in Vienna, and then moved to
Paris in 1930. There he wrote for and edited various publications, associating with the
personalist groupings and the
non-conformists of the 1930s: with
Emmanuel Mounier and Arnaud Dandieu, he founded the magazines
Esprit and ''L'Ordre Nouveau
, and he also co-founded a magazine, with Roland de Pury, on existential theology, Hic et Nunc''. In June 1940, fearing that
defeatism and the pressure of Nazi propaganda (and armies) would lead the federal government to submit to the Germans and give up the traditional democratic values of Switzerland, he led with
Zurich University Professor
Theophil Spoerri a group of young people which created a
civil society organisation called the
Gotthard League in order to defend both Christian values and the independence of Switzerland. De Rougemont wrote the movement's manifesto and on 22 July an "Appeal to the Swiss People" which was widely published in the Swiss press to rally support for the movement. Later in 1940, after having authored a sharp column in a Swiss newspaper which infuriated the German government, he was sent to the United States and administered French broadcasting for the
Voice of America. He likewise taught at the
École Libre des Hautes Études in New York before returning to Europe in 1946. He founded in Geneva the "Centre Européen de la Culture" in 1950 and in 1963 the "Institut Universitaire d'Etudes Européennes" (IUEE, "Graduate Institute of European Studies", attached to the
University of Geneva). He was president of the Paris-based Congrès pour la Liberté de la Culture. Probably his most influential work is
Love in the Western World (1939, 1956, 1972; English translations 1940, 1956, 1982). The 1989–1990 academic year at the
College of Europe was named in his honour. He is buried at the
Cimetière des Rois in the
Plainpalais district of Geneva. ==Works==