Rudolf Tanahe Bambridge (28 February 1926 - 1982) was a

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

n lawyer and politician, who led the anti-independence Tahitian Union during the 1950s and 1960s. He was the son of politician Tony Bambridge. Bambridge was born in

Papeete Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeʻetē'', pronounced ; old name: ''Vaiʻetē''Personal communication with Michael Koch in ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific ...

and educated in Noumea,

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

. After studying law in France he worked as a defence lawyer in Papeete. At the behest of his father he became involved in politics to oppose the pro-independence

Democratic Rally of the Tahitian People The Democratic Rally of the Tahitian People (, abbreviated RDPT) was a political party in French Oceania/French Polynesia. The party was led by Pouvanaa a Oopa. Political profile Pouvanaa had been elected to the French National Assembly in 1949. ...

(RDPT). He ran for the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

as a candidate for the

Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance The Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (, UDSR) was a French political party founded after the liberation of France from German occupation, mainly active during the Fourth Republic (1947–58). It was a loosely organised "cadre p ...

in the

1956 French legislative election Legislative elections were held in France on 2 January 1956 to elect the third National Assembly (France), National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic, Fourth Republic. The elections were held using party-list proportional representation. Th ...

, losing to

Pouvanaa a Oopa Pouvana'a a O'opa (May 10, 1895 – January 10, 1977) was a Tahitian politician and advocate for French Polynesian independence. He is viewed as the ''metua'' (father) of French Polynesia's independence movement. Pouvanaa served as a Deputy i ...

. He then founded the Tahitian Union to contest the

1957 French Polynesian legislative election Legislative elections were held in French Polynesia on 3 November 1957 for the Territorial Assembly.La chronologi ...

, and was elected to the

Assembly of French Polynesia The Assembly of French Polynesia (, ; Tahitian: ''Te apoʻoraʻa rahi o te fenua Māʻohi'') is the unicameral legislature of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the French Republic. It is located at Place Tarahoi in Papeete, Tahiti. It wa ...

. In the Assembly, he led opposition to the RDPT government, and was a major figure in the riots which overturned its income tax policy and toppled the government. He campaigned against independence in the

1958 French Polynesian constitutional referendum A referendum on the new constitution of France was held in French Polynesia on 28 September 1958 as part of a wider referendum held across the French Union. The new constitution would see the country become part of the new French Community if acc ...

, and served as prosecutor in Oopa's subsequent arson trial. Following Oopa's conviction, he was stripped of his seat in the National Assembly, and Bambridge ran in the resulting by-election, but lost to Marcel Oopa. He was re-elected to the Assembly at the 1962 election as leader of the UT, and again at the 1967 election. He resigned his seat in the Assembly in March 1969 to take up a position on the French Economic and Social Council. In July 1971 he resigned as president of the UT-UDR in favour of

Gaston Flosse Gaston Flosse (born 24 June 1931) is a French Polynesian politician who has been President of French Polynesia on five separate occasions. He is currently a member of the Senate of France and has been a French junior minister under Jacques Chirac ...

. He subsequently retired from political life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bambridge, Rudolf Tanahe 1926 births 1982 deaths People from Papeete French Polynesian lawyers Members of the Assembly of French Polynesia