Émile François Loubet (; 30 December 183820 December 1929) was the 45th

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers. The prime ...

from February to December 1892 and later

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from 1899 to 1906. Trained in law, he became

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Montélimar Montélimar (; Vivaro-Alpine dialect, Vivaro-Alpine: ''Montelaimar'' ; ) is a town in the Drôme Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is the second-largest town in t ...

, where he was noted as a forceful orator. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1876 and the Senate in 1885. He was appointed as a Republican minister under Carnot and Ribot. He was briefly Prime Minister of France in 1892. As President, he saw the successful Paris Exhibition of 1900, and the forging of the

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with the

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, resolving their sharp differences over the

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and the Dreyfus Affair.

Early life

Loubet was born on 30 December 1838, the son of a peasant proprietor and

of Marsanne (

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

). Admitted to the Parisian bar in 1862, he took his doctorate in law the next year. He was still a student when he witnessed the sweeping triumph of the Republican party in Paris at the general election in 1863, during the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...

. He settled down to the exercise of his profession in

, where in 1869 he married Marie-Louise Picard. He also inherited a small estate at Grignan.

Physical description

American politician

William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator, and politician. He was a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running three times as the party' ...

described Loubet as "below the medium height, even for Frenchmen. His shoulders are broad and his frame indicative of great physical strength. His hair is snow white, as are also his beard and mustache. He wears his beard square cut at the chin. . . . His voice is soft, and he speaks with great vivacity, emphasizing his words by expressive gestures."

Political career

At the crisis of 1870, which brought about the Empire's end, he became

of Montélimar, and thenceforward was a steady supporter of

Léon Gambetta Léon Gambetta (; 2 April 1838 – 31 December 1882) was a French lawyer and republican politician who proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government. Early life and education Born in Cahors, ...

. Elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1876 by

, he was one of the notable 363 parliamentarians who in the

16 May 1877 crisis Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number) *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen * ''Sixteen ...

passed a vote of no confidence in the ministry of Albert, the duke of Broglie. In the general election of October he was re-elected, local enthusiasm for him being increased by the fact that the government had driven him from the mayoralty. In the Chamber he occupied himself especially with education, fighting the clerical system established by the '' Loi Falloux'', and working for the establishment of free, obligatory and secular primary instruction. In 1880 he became president of the departmental council in

. His support of the second

Jules Ferry Jules François Camille Ferry (; 5 April 183217 March 1893) was a French statesman and republican philosopher. He was one of the leaders of the Opportunist Republicans, Moderate Republicans and served as Prime Minister of France from 1880 to 18 ...

ministry and his zeal for the colonial expansion of France gave him considerable weight in the moderate Republican party. He had entered the

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in 1885, and he became minister of public works in the Tirard ministry (December 1887 to March 1888). In 1892 President Sadi Carnot, who was his personal friend, asked him to form a cabinet. Loubet held the portfolio of the interior with the premiership, and had to deal with the anarchist crimes of that year and with the great strike of Carmaux, in which he acted as arbitrator, giving a decision regarded in many quarters as too favourable to the strikers. He was defeated in November on the question of the Panama scandals, but he retained the ministry of the interior in the next cabinet under Alexandre Ribot, though he resigned on its reconstruction in January.

President of the French Republic (1899–1906)

His reputation as an orator of great force and lucidity of exposition and as a safe and honest statesman procured for him in 1896 the presidency of the Senate, and in February 1899 he was chosen president of the republic in succession to Félix Faure by 483 votes as against 279 recorded by Jules Méline, his only serious competitor. He was marked out for fierce opposition and bitter insult, as the representative of that section of the Republican party which sought the revision of the Dreyfus affair. On the day of President Faure's funeral Paul Déroulède met the troops under General Roget on their return to barracks, and demanded that the general should march on the Elysée. Roget sensibly took his troops back to barracks. At the Auteuil steeplechase in June, the president was struck on the head with a cane by an anti-Dreyfusard. In that month President Loubet summoned Waldeck-Rousseau to form a cabinet, and at the same time entreated Republicans of all shades of opinion to rally to the defence of the state. By the efforts of Loubet and Waldeck-Rousseau the Dreyfus affair was settled, when Loubet, acting on the advice of General Galliffet, minister of war, remitted the ten years' imprisonment to which Dreyfus was condemned at

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

. Loubet's presidency saw an acute stage of the clerical question, which was attacked by Waldeck-Rousseau and in still more drastic fashion by the Combes ministry. The French ambassador was recalled from the

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in April 1905, and in July the

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was voted in the

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. Feeling had run high between France and

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over the mutual criticisms passed on the conduct of the

South African War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

and the Dreyfus affair respectively. These differences were composed, by the Anglo-French ''entente'', and in 1904 a convention between the two countries secured the recognition of French claims in

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in exchange for non-interference with the British occupation of Egypt. President Loubet belonged to the peasant-proprietor class, and had none of the aristocratic proclivities of President Faure. He inaugurated the Paris Exhibition of 1900, received the emperor

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at the French maneuvers of 1901 and paid a visit to

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in 1902. On 4 July 1902 President Loubet was elected an honorary member of the Rhode Island

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. Loubet also exchanged visits with King Edward VII, with the king of Portugal, the king of Italy and the king of Spain. During the king of Spain's visit in 1905, an attempt was made on his life, a bomb being thrown under his carriage as he and with his guest left the Opéra Garnier. When his presidency came to an end in January 1906, he became the first President of the Third Republic to have served a full term and without resigning a second one. He retired into private life and died on 20 December 1929 at the age of 90.

Honours

He received the following orders and decorations:

Loubet's Ministry, 27 February6 December 1892

*Émile Loubet – President of the Council and Minister of the Interior * Alexandre Ribot – Minister of Foreign Affairs * Charles de Freycinet – Minister of War * Maurice Rouvier – Minister of Finance * Louis Ricard – Minister of Justice and Worship * Jules Roche – Minister of Commerce, Industry, and the Colonies * Godefroy Cavaignac – Minister of Marine * Léon Bourgeois – Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts * Jules Develle – Minister of Agriculture * Yves Guyot – Minister of Public Works Changes *8 March 1892 – Godefroy Cavaignac succeeds Roche as Minister for the Colonies. Roche remains Minister of Commerce and Industry.

References

External links

* * , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Loubet, Emile 1838 births 1929 deaths People from Montélimar French Roman Catholics Opportunist Republicans Democratic Republican Alliance politicians 19th-century presidents of France 20th-century presidents of France 19th-century princes of Andorra 20th-century princes of Andorra Prime ministers of France Ministers of transport of France French interior ministers Members of the 1st Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 2nd Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 3rd Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of Parliament for Drôme French senators of the Third Republic Senators of Drôme French general councillors Mayors of Montélimar University of Paris alumni Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint-Charles Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain Knights of the Order of the Norwegian Lion