Bouly de Lesdain was a lawyer and diplomat. He also published several books about Germany, including
La Seconde paix, a 1931 treatise in which he called for closer Franco-German relations under the pseudonym of "Esdalin". By the 1930s, he joined the Dunkirk chapter of the
Action Française. Bouly de Lesdain joined ''
L'Illustration as a contributor based in Basel, Switzerland, in 1939. He complained that his antisemitic articles were turned down for publication by L'Illustration''. Bouly de Lesdain co-organised an anti-
Freemasonry conference with
Jean Rivière in October 1940 at the
Petit Palais. It was attended by more than a million visitors, By then, he openly criticised Marshal
Philippe Pétain for failing to take a hard line on racial policy, and he was engaged in "active
collaborationism". In August 1944, he fled to the
Sigmaringen Castle with members of the Vichy government, and he was the director of their radio communications. ==Personal life and death==