Léon Victor Auguste Bourgeois (; 21 May 185129 September 1925) was a French statesman. His ideas influenced the Radical Party regarding a wide range of issues. He promoted

progressive tax A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases. The term ''progressive'' refers to the way the tax rate progresses from low to high, with the result that a taxpayer's average tax rate is less than the ...

ation such as progressive

income taxes An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

and social insurance schemes, along with economic equality, expanded educational opportunities, and cooperative solidarism. In foreign policy, he called for a strong League of Nations, and the maintenance of peace through compulsory arbitration, controlled

disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing Weapon, weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, ...

economic sanctions Economic sanctions or embargoes are Commerce, commercial and Finance, financial penalties applied by states or institutions against states, groups, or individuals. Economic sanctions are a form of Coercion (international relations), coercion tha ...

, and perhaps an international military force.

Biography

Bourgeois was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in to a modest Republican family of a watchmaker of Burgundian descent, and was trained in law, graduating from his university in 1874. After holding a subordinate office (1876) in the department of public works, he became successively prefect of the Tarn (1882) and the Haute-Garonne (1885), and then returned to Paris to enter the Ministry of the Interior. He became Prefect of Police in November 1887 at the critical moment of Jules Grévy's resignation from the presidency. In the following year, he entered the Chamber, being elected deputy for the Marne, in opposition to George Boulanger, and joined the Radical Left. He was undersecretary for Home Affairs in Charles Floquet's ministry of 1888 and resigned with it in 1889, being then returned to the chamber for

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. In Pierre Tirard's ministry, which succeeded, he was Minister of the Interior, and subsequently, on 18 March 1890, Minister of Public Instruction in the cabinet of Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet, a post for which he had qualified himself by the attention he had given to educational matters. In this capacity, he was responsible for some important reforms in secondary education in 1890. He retained his office in Émile Loubet's cabinet in 1892, and was Minister of Justice under Alexandre Ribot at the end of that year, when the Panama scandals were making the office one of peculiar difficulty. He energetically pressed the Panama prosecution, so much so that he was accused of having put wrongful pressure on the wife of one of the defendants in order to procure evidence. To meet the charge, he resigned in March 1893 but again took office and retired only with the rest of the Freycinet ministry. In November 1895, he formed his own cabinet, distinctively radical, which fell as the result of a constitutional crisis arising from the persistent refusal of the Senate to vote supply. He was an eminent Freemason and eight of his cabinet members were Freemasons.

The Bourgeois ministry seemed to think that popular opinion would enable them to override what they regarded as an unconstitutional action on the part of the upper house. However, the public was indifferent, and the Senate triumphed. The blow damaged Bourgeois's career as an ''homme de gouvernement''. As Minister of Public Instruction in the Brisson cabinet of 1898, he organized courses for adults in primary education. After the short ministry, he represented his country with dignity and effect at the Hague Peace Convention, and in 1903 was nominated a member of the permanent court of arbitration. He held somewhat aloof from the political struggles of the Waldeck-Rousseau and Combes ministries, travelling considerably in foreign countries. In 1902 and 1903, he was elected president of the Chamber. In 1905, he replaced the duc d'Audiffret-Pasquier as senator for the department of Marne, and in May 1906, he became

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

in the Sarrien cabinet. He was responsible for the direction of French diplomacy in the conference at Algeciras. He was delegate to both Hague Conferences held in 1899 and 1907. Bourgeois also became delegate to Paris Peace Conference and strongly supported the Japanese Racial Equality Proposal as "an indisputable principle of justice".Conférence de paix de Paris, 1919–1920, ''Recueil des actes de la Conférence'', "Secret," Partie 4, pp. 175–176. as cited in Paul Gordon Lauren (1988), ''Power And Prejudice: The Politics And Diplomacy of Racial Discrimination'' Westview Press p.92 Following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he became President of the Assembly of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

and won the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

for his work in 1920. A social republican, Bourgeois sought a middle ground between socialism and capitalism which he termed "solidarism". He believed that the rich had a social debt to the poor which they should pay by the income tax, thus providing the state with the necessary revenue to finance social measures for those living in poverty. However, the Senate opposed his proposal, and opposition grew until his resignation as prime minister.

Bourgeois's Ministry, 1 November 1895 – 29 April 1896

*Léon Bourgeois – President of the Council and Minister of the Interior * Marcellin Berthelot – Minister of Foreign Affairs * Godefroy Cavaignac – Minister of War * Paul Doumer – Minister of Finance * Louis Ricard – Minister of Justice * Édouard Locroy – Minister of Marine *

Émile Combes Émile Justin Louis Combes (; 6 September 183525 May 1921) was a French politician and freemason who led the Bloc des gauches, Lefts Bloc (French: ''Bloc des gauches'') cabinet from June 1902 to January 1905. Career Émile Combes was born on 6 ...

– Minister of Public Instruction, Fine Arts, and Worship * Albert Viger – Minister of Agriculture * Pierre-Paul Guieysse – Minister of Colonies * Edmond Guyot-Dessaigne – Minister of Public Works * Gustave Mesureur – Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs Changes *28 March 1896 – Bourgeois succeeds Berthelot as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ferdinand Sarrien succeeds Bourgeois as Minister of the Interior.

Support to the French National Museum of Natural History

Bourgeois is one of the founders of the Friends of the Natural History Museum Paris society. He was the very first president in office from 1907 to 1922.Yves Laissus, "Cent ans d'histoire", ''1907-2007 - Les Amis du Muséum'', centennial special, September 2007, supplement to the quarterly publication '' Les Amis du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle'', n° 230, June 2007, ISSN 1161-9104 .

References

* ''France since 1870: Culture, Politics and Society'' by Charles Sowerine.

External links

* including the communication with the Nobel Committee, December, 1922 ''The Reasons for the League of Nations''
About Leon Victor Auguste Bourgeois
on nobel-winners.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourgeois, Leon 1851 births 1925 deaths 19th-century police officers Politicians from Paris Radical Party (France) politicians Prime ministers of France Foreign ministers of France Ministers of justice of France French interior ministers Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (France) Members of the 4th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 5th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 6th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 7th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 8th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French senators of the Third Republic Senators of Marne (department) Presidents of the Senate (France) Prefects of Haute-Garonne Prefects of Tarn (department) Prefects of police of Paris Delegates to the Hague Peace Conferences Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration Presidents of the Assembly of the League of Nations French Freemasons Nobel Peace Prize laureates French Nobel laureates Officers of the Legion of Honour French judges of international courts and tribunals