Édouard Marie Herriot (French: [edwaʁ ma.ʁi ɛʁjo]; 5 July 1872 – 26 March 1957) was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister (1924–1925; 1926; 1932) and twice as President of the Chamber of Deputies.[1] He led the first Cartel des Gauches. Under the Fourth Republic, he served as President of the National Assembly until 1954. A historian by occupation, Herriot was elected to the Académie Française's eighth seat in 1946.[2] He served as Mayor of Lyon for more than 45 years, from 1905 until his death, except for a brief period from 1940 to 1945, when he was exiled to Germany for opposing the Vichy regime.

Édouard Herriot
Herriot in 1946
President of the Council of Ministers of France
In office
3 June 1932 – 18 December 1932
PresidentAlbert Lebrun
Preceded byAndré Tardieu
Succeeded byJoseph Paul-Boncour
In office
20 July 1926 – 23 July 1926
PresidentGaston Doumergue
Preceded byAristide Briand
Succeeded byRaymond Poincaré
In office
15 June 1924 – 17 April 1925
PresidentGaston Doumergue
Preceded byFrédéric François-Marsal
Succeeded byPaul Painlevé
President of the National Assembly
In office
21 January 1947 – 11 January 1954
Preceded byVincent Auriol
Succeeded byAndré Le Troquer
President of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
4 June 1936 – 10 July 1940[a]
Preceded byFernand Bouisson
Succeeded byFélix Gouin
(as President of the Provisional Consultative Assembly, 1943)
In office
22 April 1925 – 20 July 1926
Preceded byPaul Painlevé
Succeeded byRaoul Péret
Minister of Public Instruction and Beaux-Arts
In office
23 July 1926 – 1 November 1928
PresidentGaston Doumergue
Prime MinisterRaymond Poincaré
Preceded byÉdouard Daladier
Succeeded byPierre Marraud
Mayor of Lyon
In office
18 May 1945 – 26 March 1957
Preceded byJustin Godart
Succeeded byLouis Pradel
In office
3 November 1905 – 20 September 1940
Preceded byVictor Augagneur
Succeeded byGeorges Cohendy
Member of the National Assembly
for Rhône
In office
6 November 1945 – 26 March 1957
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
for Rhône
In office
20 November 1919 – 31 May 1942
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
3 June 1932 – 14 December 1932
PresidentAlbert Lebrun
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byAndré Tardieu
Succeeded byJoseph Paul-Boncour
In office
19 July 1926 – 21 July 1926
PresidentGaston Doumergue
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byAristide Briand
Succeeded byAristide Briand
In office
14 June 1924 – 10 April 1925
PresidentGaston Doumergue
Prime MinisterHimself
Preceded byEdmond Lefebvre du Prey
Succeeded byAristide Briand
Member of the Senate
In office
7 November 1912 – 23 December 1919
Preceded byÉdouard Millaud
Succeeded byEugène Ruffier
Minister of Public Works
In office
12 December 1916 – 17 March 1917
PresidentRaymond Poincaré
Prime MinisterAristide Briand
Preceded byMarcel Sembat
Succeeded byGeorges Desplas
Personal details
Born
Édouard Marie Herriot

(1872-07-05)5 July 1872
Troyes, France
Died26 March 1957(1957-03-26) (aged 84)
Saint-Genis-Laval, France
Resting placeLoyasse Cemetery, Lyon
Political partyRadical Party
SpouseBlanche Rebatel
EducationLycée Louis-le-Grand
Alma materÉcole normale supérieure
OccupationHistorian
Signature

Life

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Herriot was born at Troyes, France on 5 July 1872. As Mayor of Lyon, Herriot improved relations between municipal government and local unions, increased public assistance funds, and began an urban renewal programme,[3] amongst other measures. He died in Lyon on 26 March 1957.[1] He went through a Deathbed conversion to Catholicism with Cardinal Pierre-Marie Gerlier, and was buried at the Loyasse Cemetery "with church ritual".[4]

Herriot's First Ministry, 14 June 1924 – 17 April 1925

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Changes

Herriot's Second Ministry, 19–23 July 1926

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Herriot's Third Ministry, 3 June – 18 December 1932

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Denial of the Holodomor

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The height of denial of the Holodomor was reached during a visit to Ukraine carried out between 26 August and 9 September 1933 by Herriot, who had recently left the French Prime Ministry. Herriot denied accounts of the famine and said that Soviet Ukraine was "like a garden in full bloom".[5]

Furthermore, he announced to the press that there was no famine in Ukraine, that he did not see any trace of hunger, and that the allegations of starving millions were being spread by adversaries of the Soviet Union. "When one believes that the Ukraine is devastated by famine, allow me to shrug my shoulders", he declared. The 13 September 1933 issue of Pravda was able to write that Herriot "categorically contradicted the lies of the bourgeoisie press in connection with a famine in the USSR."[6]

 
Autochrome by Georges Chevalier, 1923

Political career

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Governmental functions

Président of the Council of Ministers : 1924–1925 / 19–21 July 1926 / June–December 1932.

Minister of Transport, Public Works and Supply : 1916–1917.

Minister of Education and Fine Arts : 1926–1928.

Minister of Foreign Affairs : 1924–1925 / 19–21 July 1926 / June–December 1932.

Minister of State : 1934–1936.

Electoral mandates

National Assembly of France

President of the National Assembly of France : 1947–1954.

Member of the National Assembly of France for Rhône (department) : 1946–1957 (He died in 1957). Elected in 1946, reelected in 1951, 1956.

Constitutional Assembly

Member of the Constitutional Assembly for Rhône (department) : 1945–1946. Elected in 1945, reelected in June 1946.

Chamber of Deputies of France

President of the Chamber of Deputies of France : 1925–1926 / 1936–1940.

Member of the Chamber of Deputies of France for Rhône (department) : 1919–1942 (Dissolution of Parliament by Philippe Petain in 1942). Elected in 1919, reelected in 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936.

Senate of France

Senator of Rhône : 1912–1919. Elected in 1911.

General council

General councillor of Rhône (department) : 1945–1951.

Municipal Council

Mayor of Lyon : 1905–1940 (Deposition by Vichy regime in 1940) / 1945–1957 (He died in 1957). Reelected in 1908, 1912, 1919, 1925, 1929, 1935, 1945, 1947, 1953.

Municipal councillor of Lyon : 1904–1940 (Deposition by the Vichy regime in 1940) / 1945–1957 (He died in 1957). Reelected in 1908, 1912, 1919, 1925, 1929, 1935, 1945, 1947, 1953.

Political functions

President of the Radical Party (France) : 1919–1926 / 1931–1936 / 1948–1953 / 1955–1957.

Legacy

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Herriot was declared an honorary citizen of the city of Veliki Bečkerek (today Zrenjanin) in 1933. There is also a street with his name in Zrenjanin.

His visit to a church in Kyiv, where a fake religious service was organized for the occasion, is described in "The Mechanical Lions", one of the stories in A Tomb for Boris Davidovich by Danilo Kiš.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Parliament suspended.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Herriot Is Dead. French Leader, 84". The New York Times. March 27, 1957. Retrieved 2015-01-07. Three-Time Premier, Radical Party Power, Was Scholar and Member of Academy. Hoped to Defeat E.D.C. Plan '54. Long Urged Nation Pay War Debts to U.S. Tributes From Leaders National Funeral Urged Widely Known in U.S. Became Premier in 1924. Abstained From Vote. Edouard Herriot, French statesman, party leader, scholar and author who had become a symbol of the premier Third Republic, died today at the age of 84. ...
  2. ^ Édouard HERRIOT, Académie française (in French).
  3. ^ Stone, Judith F. (8 April 1985). The Search for Social Peace: Reform Legislation in France, 1890–1914. SUNY Press. ISBN 9780887060229. Retrieved 8 April 2018 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "At the Bedside". Time. Time Magazine. 1959-11-30. Archived from the original on 2022-12-31. Retrieved 2022-12-31.
  5. ^ Nicolas Werth, Karel Bartošek, Jean-Louis Panné, Jean-Louis Margolin, Andrzej Paczkowski, Stéphane Courtois, The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, Harvard University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-674-07608-7, pages 159–160
  6. ^ "France, Germany and Austria facing the famine of 1932–1933 in Ukraine" (PDF). holodomorct.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2018.

Further reading

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  • De Tarr, Francis. The French Radical Party: From Herriot to Mendès-France (Greenwood, 1980).
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Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Public Works and Transport
1916–1917
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Minister of Supply
1916–1917
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of France
1924–1925
Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Foreign Affairs
1924–1925
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Chamber of Deputies
1925–1926
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of France
1926
Succeeded by
Minister of Foreign Affairs
1926
Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Public Instruction
1926–1928
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prime Minister of France
1932
Succeeded by
Minister of Foreign Affairs
1932
Preceded by
Minister of State
1934–1936
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Chamber of Deputies
1936–1940
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the National Assembly
1947–1954
Succeeded by
New office President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
1949
Succeeded by