Alexandre Millerand
Alexandre Millerand (French: [alɛksɑ̃dʁ milʁɑ̃]; 10 February 1859 – 6 April 1943) was a French politician. He was Prime Minister of France from 20 January to 23 September 1920 and President of France from 23 September 1920 to 11 June 1924. His participation in Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet at the start of the 20th century, alongside the Marquis de Galliffet, who had directed the repression of the 1871 Paris Commune, sparked a debate in the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and in the Second International about the participation of socialists in bourgeois governments.
"Millerand" redirects here. Not to be confused with Mitterrand (disambiguation) or Millerand Island.
Alexandre Millerand
Raymond Poincaré
Paul Deschanel
Georges Leygues
Himself
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Leygues
Raymond Poincaré
Adolphe Messimy
Aristide Briand
6 April 1943 (aged 84)
Versailles, Occupied France
French Socialist Party
(1902–1904)
Republican-Socialist Party
(1911–1912)
Independent
(1912–1940)
Jean (1899–1972)
Alice (1902–80)
Jacques (1904–79)
Marthe (1909–75)
In 1912 Millerand was appointed as war minister in Poincaré's cabinet. He returned to the same post during the first year of World War I, helping set French war strategy. After Clemenceau's defeat in 1920, Millerand formed a cabinet and held both the premiership and the ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1920-1924 he served as president of France. He faced criticism for openly supporting conservative candidates in the 1924 elections and the left majority forced his resignation. Thereafter he played only a minor role in politics. [1]
Biography[edit]
Early life and religion[edit]
Millerand was brought up in Paris, to Jean-François Millerand and Amélie-Mélanie Cahen of Alsatian Jewish origin, while his paternal family originated from Franche-Comté.[2]
Millerand was baptized in 1860, while his mother converted to Catholicism.[2] However, Millerand later became an agnostic, even going as far as to participate in a civil marriage ceremony. None of his children were baptized either.[3]
Early activism[edit]
Born in Paris, he was educated for the bar and was elected Secrétaire of the Conférence des avocats du barreau de Paris. He made his reputation through his defence, in company with Georges Laguerre, of Ernest Roche and Duc-Quercy, the instigators of the strike at Decazeville in 1883. He then took Laguerre's place on Georges Clemenceau's newspaper, La Justice. He was a freemason[4] between 1883 and 1905.
He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Seine département in 1885 as a Radical Socialist. He was associated with Clemenceau and Camille Pelletan as an arbitrator in the Carmaux strike (1892). He had long had the ear of the Chamber in matters of social legislation, and after the Panama scandals had discredited so many politicians, his influence grew.
He was chief of the Independent Socialist faction, a group which then mustered sixty members. Until 1896, he edited their organ in the press, La Petite République. His programme included the collective ownership of the means of production and the international association of labour.
Young Alexandre Millerand in 1893.
Media related to Alexandre Millerand at Wikimedia Commons