Albert-Pierre Sarraut (; 28 July 1872 – 26 November 1962) was a French Radical politician, twice

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

during the Third Republic.

Biography

Sarraut was born on 28 July 1872 in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, Gironde, France. On 14 March 1907 Sarraut, senator of Aude and under-secretary of state for the Interior, was ridiculed by Clemenceau for trying to plead the case of his electorate during the revolt of the Languedoc winegrowers. Clemenceau told Sarraut, "I know the South, it will all end with a banquet". After massive demonstrations in the winegrowing region in June 1907 Clemenceau asked Sarraut to bring the leader Ernest Ferroul to the negotiating table. Ferroul told him: "When we have three million men behind us, we do not negotiate". From 17 June 1907 the Midi was occupied by 22 regiments of infantry and 12 regiments of cavalry. The gendarmerie was ordered to imprison the leaders of the demonstrations. Sarraut refused to endorse this policy and resigned from the government. He was Governor-General of French Indochina, from 1912 to 1914 and from 1917 to 1919. Although Sarraut was celebrated for native education reform, his motivation was an example of paternalism. He believed that the Vietnamese could not be civilized until their thinking, customs and institutions mirrored those of the French. According to Hue Tam Ho Tai, if Sarraut's argument was carried to its logical conclusion, the Vietnamese, she writes, would "deserve independence from French rule only when they no longer desired to be Vietnamese, but Frenchmen in yellow skin."Hue Tam Ho Tai, Radicalism and the Origins of the Vietnamese Revolution, Harvard University Press, 1992, page 30. Albert Sarraut supported actively the preservation and development of native arts, for instance supporting the French art scholar George Groslier in preserving Cambodian arts and cultural traditions, and funding the design and construction of the

National Museum of Cambodia The National Museum of Cambodia ( km, សារមន្ទីរជាតិ) is Cambodia's largest museum of cultural history and is the country's leading historical and archaeological museum. It is located in Chey Chumneas, Phnom Penh. Overvi ...

. On 18 January 1920 he replaced Henry Simon as Minister of the Colonies. On 10 July 1940, Sarraut voted in favour of granting the Cabinet presided over by Marshal

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of Worl ...

authority to draw up a new constitution, thereby effectively ending the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 19 ...

and establishing Vichy France. Thereafter Sarraut retired from politics. He took control of the family newspaper, ''

La Dépêche de Toulouse LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

'', after the editor, his brother

Maurice Sarraut Maurice Sarraut (22 September 1869 in Bordeaux – 2 December 1943) was a French journalist and politician. He was the older brother of Albert Sarraut. Sarraut was then committed to the newspaper '' La Dépêche de Toulouse'' while he was traini ...

, was killed by the

Milice The ''Milice française'' (French Militia), generally called ''la Milice'' (literally ''the militia'') (), was a political paramilitary organization created on 30 January 1943 by the Vichy regime (with German aid) to help fight against the Fre ...

in 1943. Sarraut died in Paris on 26 November 1962. The

Lycée Albert Sarraut Lycée Albert Sarraut was a French lyceum in Hanoi, Vietnam, during the French colonial period, active from 1919 to 1965. It was one of 69 high schools founded by the French in their colonies worldwide, named for Albert Sarraut. The school offered ...

in Hanoi was named after him.

Sarraut's First Ministry, 26 October – 26 November 1933

* Albert Sarraut – President of the Council and Minister of Marine * Albert Dalimier – Vice President of the Council and Minister of Justice * Joseph Paul-Boncour – Minister of Foreign Affairs * Édouard Daladier – Minister of War * Camille Chautemps – Minister of the Interior * Georges Bonnet – Minister of Finance * Abel Gardey – Minister of Budget * Eugène Frot – Minister of Labour and Social Security Provisions * Jacques Stern – Minister of Merchant Marine *

Pierre Cot Pierre Jules Cot (20 November 1895, in Grenoble – 21 August 1977, Paris), was a French politician and leading figure in the Popular Front government of the 1930s. Born in Grenoble into a conservative Catholic family, he entered politics as a ...

– Minister of Air * Anatole de Monzie – Minister of National Education * Hippolyte Ducos – Minister of Pensions * Henri Queuille – Minister of Agriculture * François Piétri – Minister of Colonies * Joseph Paganon – Minister of Public Works * Émile Lisbonne – Minister of Public Health * Jean Mistler – Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones * Laurent Eynac – Minister of Commerce and Industry

Sarraut's Second Ministry, 24 January – 4 June 1936

* Albert Sarraut – President of the Council and Minister of the Interior * Pierre Étienne Flandin – Minister of Foreign Affairs * Louis Maurin – Minister of War * Marcel Régnier – Minister of Finance * Ludovic-Oscar Frossard – Minister of Labour *

Léon Bérard Léon Bérard (6 January 1876, Sauveterre-de-Béarn – 24 February 1960 in Saint-Étienne) was a French politician and lawyer. Bérard was Minister of Public Instruction in 1919 and from 1921 to 1924, and Minister of Justice from 1931 to 1932 ...

– Minister of Justice * François Piétri – Minister of Marine * Louis de Chappedelaine – Minister of Merchant Marine *

Marcel Déat Marcel Déat (7 March 1894 – 5 January 1955) was a French politician. Initially a socialist and a member of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), he led a breakaway group of right-wing ' Neosocialists' out of the SFIO in 1933 ...

– Minister of Air * Henri Guernut – Minister of National Education * René Besse – Minister of Pensions * Paul Thellier – Minister of Agriculture * Jacques Stern – Minister of Colonies * Camille Chautemps – Minister of Public Works * Louis Nicolle – Minister of Public Health and Physical Education * Georges Mandel – Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones * Georges Bonnet – Minister of Commerce and Industry * Joseph Paul-Boncour – Minister of State and Permanent Delegate to the League of Nations

References

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