He then left for France in 1936, where he earned degrees in political science, philosophy and law in 1939. In the same year, Bakhtiar married a French woman and in 1940 he volunteered for the French army and served in the “Orlean” battalion in WWII. After the war, he obtained his PH.D. in the field of political science from the Sorbonne in Paris. In the winter of 1946, Bakhtiar returned and was employed at the newly established Ministry of Labor. Initially, he was appointed director of the Labor Department in the Province of Esfahan. Subsequently, he headed up the Labor Department in Khozestan, center of the oil industry. During the Premiership of Mohammad Mosaddeq, Bakhtiar held the post of deputy minister of labor.
