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Albert Sarraut

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Albert Sarraut
73rd Prime Minister of France
In office
26 October 1933 – 26 November 1933
Preceded byÉdouard Daladier
Succeeded byCamille Chautemps
In office
24 January 1936 – 4 June 1936
Preceded byPierre Laval
Succeeded byLéon Blum
Governor-General of French Indochina
In office
15 November 1911 – 22 November 1913
Preceded byPaul Louis Luce
Succeeded byJoost van Vollenhoven
In office
22 January 1917 – 9 December 1919
Preceded byJean-François dit Eugène Charles
Succeeded byMaurice Antoine François Monguillot
Personal details
Born28 July 1872
Bordeaux, Gironde, Second French Empire
Died26 November 1962(1962-11-26) (aged 90)
Paris, France
Political partyRadical

Albert-Pierre Sarraut (French: [albɛʁ saʁo]; 28 July 1872 – 26 November 1962) was a French Radical politician, twice Prime Minister during the Third Republic.

Biography

Sarraut was born on 28 July 1872 in Bordeaux, Gironde, France.

On 14 March 1907 Sarraut, senator of Aude and under-secretary of state for the Interior, was ridiculed by Clemenceau for trying to plead the case of his electorate during the revolt of the Languedoc winegrowers. Clemenceau told Sarraut, "I know the South, it will all end with a banquet".[1] After massive demonstrations in the winegrowing region in June 1907 Clemenceau asked Sarraut to bring the leader Ernest Ferroul to the negotiating table. Ferroul told him: "When we have three million men behind us, we do not negotiate".[2] From 17 June 1907 the Midi was occupied by 22 regiments of infantry and 12 regiments of cavalry.[3] The gendarmerie was ordered to imprison the leaders of the demonstrations. Sarraut refused to endorse this policy and resigned from the government.[1]

He was Governor-General of French Indochina, from 1912 to 1914 and from 1917 to 1919. Although Sarraut was celebrated for native education reform, his motivation was an example of colonial racism. He believed that the Vietnamese could not be civilized until their thinking, customs and institutions mirrored those of the French. For Sarraut, the Vietnamese would "deserve independence from French rule only when they no longer desired to be Vietnamese, but Frenchmen in yellow skin." [4] On 18 January 1920 he replaced Henry Simon as Minister of the Colonies.

On 10 July 1940, Sarraut voted in favour of granting the Cabinet presided over by Marshal Philippe Pétain authority to draw up a new constitution, thereby effectively ending the French Third Republic and establishing Vichy France. Thereafter Sarraut retired from politics. He took control of the family newspaper, La Dépêche de Toulouse, after the editor, his brother Maurice Sarraut, was killed by the Milice in 1943.

Sarraut died in Paris on 26 November 1962.

Sarraut's First Ministry, 26 October – 26 November 1933

Sarraut's Second Ministry, 24 January – 4 June 1936

Further reading

  • Thomas, Martin (2005), "Albert Sarraut, French Colonial Development, and the Communist Threat, 1919–1930", The Journal of Modern History, 77 (4): 917–955, doi:10.1086/499830.

References

  1. ^ a b Bon.
  2. ^ Ferré 2007.
  3. ^ Castillon 2007.
  4. ^ Demery, Monique Finding the Dragon Lady, New York: Public Affairs, 2013 page 33.

Sources

Political offices
Preceded by Prime Ministers of France
1933 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Ministers of France
1936 		Succeeded by
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