Léon Bourgeois | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of the Council of Ministers of France | |
| In office 1 November 1895 – 29 April 1896 | |
| President | Félix Faure |
| Preceded by | Alexandre Ribot |
| Succeeded by | Jules Méline |
| President of the Senate | |
| In office 14 January 1920 – 22 February 1923 | |
| Preceded by | Antonin Dubost |
| Succeeded by | Gaston Doumergue |
| President of the Chamber of Deputies | |
| In office 6 June 1902 – 12 January 1904 | |
| Preceded by | Paul Deschanel |
| Succeeded by | Henri Brisson |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 28 March 1896 – 29 April 1896 | |
| President | Félix Faure |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Marcelin Berthelot |
| Succeeded by | Gabriel Hanotaux |
| Minister of the Interior | |
| In office 1 November 1895 – 28 March 1896 | |
| President | Félix Faure |
| Prime Minister | Himself |
| Preceded by | Georges Leygyes |
| Succeeded by | Ferdinand Sarrien |
| Minister of State | |
| In office 29 Octobre 1915 – 12 December 1916 | |
| President | Raymond Poincaré |
| Prime Minister | Aristide Briand |
| In office 12 September 1917 – 13 November 1917 | |
| President | Raymond Poincaré |
| Prime Minister | Paul Painlevé |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1851-05-21)21 May 1851 Paris |
| Died | 29 September 1925(1925-09-29) (aged 74) Oger |
| Resting place | Cimetière de l'Ouest,Châlons-en-Champagne |
| Political party | Radical |
| Spouse | Virginie Marguerite Sellier |
| Alma mater | Université de Paris |
| Awards | Nobel Peace Prize 1920 |
Léon Victor Auguste Bourgeois (French:[leɔ̃buʁʒwa]; 21 May 1851 – 29 September 1925) was a French statesman. His ideas influenced theRadical Party regarding a wide range of issues.
He promotedprogressive taxation such as progressiveincome taxes andsocial insurance schemes,[1] along witheconomic equality, expandededucational opportunities, andcooperative solidarism. In foreign policy, he called for a strong League of Nations, and the maintenance of peace throughcompulsory arbitration, controlleddisarmament,economic sanctions, and perhaps an international military force.
Bourgeois was born inParis in to a modest Republican family of a watchmaker ofBurgundian descent,[2] 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 theTarn (1882) and theHaute-Garonne (1885), and then returned to Paris to enter the Ministry of the Interior.
He became Prefect of Police[3] in November 1887 at the critical moment ofJules Grévy's resignation from the presidency. In the following year, he entered the Chamber, being elected deputy for theMarne, in opposition toGeorge Boulanger, and joined theRadical Left. He was undersecretary for Home Affairs inCharles Floquet's ministry of 1888 and resigned with it in 1889, being then returned to the chamber forReims. InPierre Tirard's ministry, which succeeded, he wasMinister of the Interior, and subsequently, on 18 March 1890,Minister of Public Instruction in the cabinet ofCharles 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 inÉmile Loubet's cabinet in 1892, and wasMinister of Justice underAlexandre Ribot at the end of that year, when thePanama 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[4][5] and eight of his cabinet members were Freemasons.[6]
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 anhomme de gouvernement. As Minister of Public Instruction in theBrisson cabinet of 1898, he organized courses for adults in primary education. After the short ministry, he represented his country with dignity and effect at theHague Peace Convention, and in 1903 was nominated a member of the permanent court of arbitration.
He held somewhat aloof from the political struggles of theWaldeck-Rousseau andCombes ministries, travelling considerably in foreign countries. In 1902 and 1903, he was elected president of the Chamber. In 1905, he replaced theduc d'Audiffret-Pasquier as senator for the department ofMarne, and in May 1906, he becameMinister of Foreign Affairs in the Sarrien cabinet. He was responsible for the direction of French diplomacy in the conference atAlgeciras. He was delegate to bothHague Conferences held in 1899 and 1907. Bourgeois also became delegate toParis Peace Conference and strongly supported theJapanese Racial Equality Proposal as "an indisputable principle of justice".[7]
FollowingWorld War I, he became President of the Assembly of theLeague of Nations and won theNobel Peace Prize 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.
Changes
Bourgeois is one of the founders of theFriends of the Natural History Museum Paris society. He was the very first president in office from 1907 to 1922.[8]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bourgeois, Léon Victor Auguste".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
including the communication with the Nobel Committee, December, 1922The Reasons for the League of Nations| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of the Interior 1890 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts 1890–1892 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Justice 1892–1893 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Justice 1893 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of France 1895–1896 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of the Interior 1895–1896 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1896 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts 1898 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Chamber of Deputies 1902–1904 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1906 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Labour and Social Security 1912–1913 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 1914 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by — | Minister of State 1915–1916 | Succeeded by — |
| Preceded by | Minister of Labour and Social Security 1917 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by — | Minister of State 1917 | Succeeded by — |
| Preceded by | President of the Senate 1920–1923 | Succeeded by |
