Albert Lebrun

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Albert Lebrun
Minister of War
In office 12 January 1913 – 20 January 1913
Prime Minister	Raymond Poincaré
Preceded by	Alexandre Millerand
Succeeded by	Eugène Étienne
President of the General Council of Meurthe-et-Moselle
In office 20 August 1906 – 10 May 1932
Preceded by	Alfred Mézières
Succeeded by	Albert Tourtel
Personal details
Born	(1871-08-29)29 August 1871 École des mines de Paris
Signature

Albert François Lebrun (French: [albɛʁ ləbʁœ̃]; 29 August 1871 – 6 March 1950) was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940. He was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the centre-right Democratic Republican Alliance (ARD).

Biography

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Early life

Born to a farming family in

, but left that profession at the age of 29 to enter politics.

Politics

Lebrun gained a seat in the Chamber of Deputies in 1900 as a member of the Left Republican Party, later serving on the cabinet as Minister for the Colonies from 1912 to 1914, Minister of War in 1913 and

in 1920, and served as Vice President of the Senate from 1925 through 1929. He was president of that body from 1931 to 1932.

President

Lebrun was elected President of France by the newly elected Chamber of Deputies following the assassination of President Paul Doumer by Pavel Gurgulov on 6 May 1932. Re-elected in 1939, largely because of his record of accommodating all political sides, he exercised little power as president.

In June 1940, with the military collapse of France imminent, Lebrun wrote "the uselessness of the struggle was demonstrated. An end must be made."^[1] With the Cabinet wanting to ask for an armistice, on 17 June 1940 Prime Minister Paul Reynaud resigned, recommending to President Lebrun that he appoint Marechal Philippe Pétain in his place, which he did that day.^[2] British General Sir Edward Spears, who was present with the French cabinet during this crisis wrote "it is clear that the President had made up his mind that France was free of her obligations to Britain, and was at liberty to ask for an armistice [with Germany] if she deemed it to be in her interests to do so."^[3]

On 10 July 1940, Lebrun enacted the Constitutional Law of 10 July 1940, which the National Assembly had voted for by 569 votes to 80,^[4] allowing Prime Minister Philippe Pétain to promulgate a new constitution.^[5] On 11 July, Lebrun was replaced by Pétain as head of state.^[6]

Lebrun then fled to

. On 10 October 1943 he was allowed to return to Vizille due to illness, but was kept under constant surveillance.^[7]

On 15 August 1944, Operation Dragoon began. One week later, Grenoble, Vizille and other cities were freed. The German 19th Army withdrew quicky.

On 11 October 1944, Lebrun met with Charles de Gaulle and acknowledged the General's leadership, and conveniently forgetting the new Constitutional Law he had enacted in 1940, said that he had not formally resigned as president because the dissolution of the National Assembly had left nobody to accept his resignation. ^{[citation needed]} Whether or not de Gaulle accepted this lie is unknown. During the post-war Petain trial "all the available celebrities of the Third Republic testified, including Lebrun, all whitewashing themselves".^[8] Lebrun argued again that he had never officially resigned. De Gaulle made no mystery of his low opinion of Lebrun, and wrote about him in his memoirs "As a head of state he lacked two things: there was no state, and he wasn't a head."^[9]

Personal life

Lebrun was married to Marguerite Lebrun (née Nivoit). Together they had two children: a son Jean and a daughter Marie.^[10]

Later life

After the war, Lebrun lived in retirement. He died of pneumonia in Paris on 6 March 1950 after a protracted illness.^[11]

References

External links

• Works by or about Albert Lebrun at Internet Archive
• Newspaper clippings about Albert Lebrun in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Political offices
Preceded by Adolphe Messimy	Minister of the Colonies 1911–1913	Succeeded by René Besnard
Preceded by Alexandre Millerand	Minister of War 1913	Succeeded by Eugène Étienne
Preceded by Jean Morel	Minister of the Colonies 1913–1914	Succeeded by Maurice Maunoury
Preceded by Charles Jonnart	Minister of Liberated Regions 1917–1919	Succeeded by André Tardieu
Preceded by Paul Doumer	President of the Senate 1931–1932	Succeeded by Jules Jeanneney
	President of France 1932–1940	Vacant Title next held by Vincent Auriol
Regnal titles
Preceded by Paul Doumer	Co-Prince of Andorra 1932–1940 Served alongside: Justí Guitart i Vilardebó	Succeeded by Philippe Pétain