Jean Adrien François Lecanuet (4 March 1920 – 22 February 1993) was a French centrist politician. Lecanuet was born to a family of modest means in Rouen and gravitated towards philosophy studies.

He received his diploma at the age of 22, becoming the youngest agrégé ("A+" professor) in France. He participated in the Second World War French Resistance movement. In August 1944, he was arrested along with a commando that had just blown up the Lille-Brussels railroad, but he managed to escape with the help of a Pole who had been drafted into the German army.