His presidency was marked by a series of poorly handled crises.General Boulanger's rapid rise and failed attempt to march on the Élysée in 1889 posed the first serious threat to the Republic during Carnot's term. Then came a series of ministerial crises, financial scandals, labour turmoil, anarchist violence, and finally Carnot's own assassination in 1894. ThePanama scandals, involving bribes to parliamentarians, resulted in major financial losses and deeply embarrassed those involved. The extreme right-wing newspaperLa Libre Parole, run by anti-Semitic publicistÉdouard Drumont, escalated intolerance towards Third Republic politics.[2]
Carnot presided over a few achievements. He was well received when he travelled around France, inaugurated the 1889 exhibition celebrating the French Revolution, and facilitated a diplomatic rapprochement with Russia. His term in office bolstered the power and influence of the presidency.[3]
Marie François Sadi Carnot was the son of the statesmanHippolyte Carnot and was born inLimoges, Haute-Vienne. His third given name Sadi was in honour of his uncleNicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, the engineer who formulated thesecond law of thermodynamics and is generally regarded as the founder of the subject, who in turn was named after the Persian poetSadi of Shiraz. Like his uncle, Marie François came to be known as Sadi Carnot. In his scientific-mindedness andRepublican leanings, he resembled his grandfather,Lazare Carnot, the military modernizer and member of theDirectory of theFrench Revolution.
He was educated as acivil engineer and was a highly distinguished student at both theÉcole Polytechnique and theÉcole des Ponts et Chaussées. After his academic course, he obtained an appointment in the public service. His hereditary republicanism caused theGovernment of National Defense to entrust him in 1870 with the task of organizing resistance in thedépartements of theEure, Calvados andSeine-Inférieure, and he was made prefect of Seine-Inférieure in January 1871. In the following month he was elected to theFrench National Assembly by thedépartementCôte-d'Or. He joined theOpportunist Republican parliamentary group,Gauche républicaine. In August 1878 he was appointed secretary to the minister of public works. He became minister in September 1880 and again in April 1885, moving almost immediately to theministry of finance, which post he held under both theFerry and theFreycinet administrations until December 1886.[4]
When the Daniel Wilson scandals occasioned the downfall ofJules Grévy in December 1887, Carnot's reputation for integrity made him a candidate for the presidency, and he obtained the support ofGeorges Clemenceau and many others, so that he was elected by 616 votes out of 827. He assumed office at a critical period, when the republic was all but openly attacked byGeneral Boulanger.[4]
Carnot's ostensible part during this agitation was confined to augmenting his popularity by well-timed appearances on public occasions, which gained credit for the presidency and the republic. When, early in 1889, Boulanger was finally driven into exile, it fell to Carnot to appear as head of the state on two occasions of special interest, the celebration of the centenary of theFrench Revolution in 1889 and the opening of theParis Exhibition of the same year.[5] The success of both was regarded as a popular ratification of the republic, and though continually harassed by the formation and dissolution of ephemeral ministries, by socialist outbreaks, and the beginnings ofanti-Semitism, Carnot had only one serious crisis to surmount, thePanama scandals of 1892, which, if they greatly damaged the prestige of the state, increased the respect felt for its head, against whose integrity none could breathe a word.[4]
President Carnot was reaching the zenith of his popularity, when, on 24 June 1894, after delivering a public banquet speech in Lyon at thePalais du Commerce, in which he appeared to imply that he would not seek re-election, he was stabbed on theRue de la République by an Italiananarchist namedSante Geronimo Caserio.[4]Carnot, transported to the Préfecture du Rhône nearby, died shortly after midnight on 25 June, the firstPresident of the Republic to die in office[a].[6] The stabbing aroused widespread horror and grief, and the president was honoured with an elaborate funeral ceremony in thePanthéon on 1 July 1894, after which he was interred in the Panthéon's crypt alongside other notable figures in French history.[7]
Caserio called the assassination a political act, and was convicted and sentenced to death on 3 August 1894 and executed on 16 August 1894.[8]
_-_photographie_Franck.png)
