Albert Lebrun

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(b. 29 Aug. 1871; d. 6 Mar. 1950) French; President of the Third Republic 1932 – 40 Albert Lebrun came from a peasant family in eastern France and was educated in Paris at the prestigious École Polytechnique. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a conservative Republican in 1900, held a number of middle-rank ministerial posts before and during the First World War, and in 1920 entered the Senate, whose president he became in 1931. The Senate presidency was a traditional stepping stone to the presidency of the Republic. When President Doumer was assassinated by a Russian anarchist in 1932, Lebrun felt obliged to offer himself as successor and was duly elected by a huge majority of the National Assembly. A conscientious attender of official functions, he lacked personal charisma (his propensity to weep in public made him an easy target for satirists) and made no attempt to challenge the prevailing Republican orthodoxy which prevented the President from asserting an independent political authority. Thus in 1936 he overcame his aversion to the victory of the left-wing Popular Front and dutifully invited the Socialist Blum to become Prime Minister. Four years later, after a less than triumphal re-election in 1939, he behaved with similar constitutional scruple in the dramatic events surrounding the fall of France. He made no attempt to support those of "his" ministers who opposed the growing clamour for an end to the war and, by appointing Pétain Prime Minister, made certain that an armistice would be signed. He was similarly inert in the hectic days leading to the establishment of the Vichy regime and the overthrow of the Republic whose head he was supposed to be. He was deported to Germany during the war and played no part in politics after it.

In his war memoirs, de Gaulle dismisses Lebrun's role in 1940 with curt brutality. Lebrun personified the weakness of the Third Republic head of state and was the anti-model for the presidency which de Gaulle created in the 1958 constitution.

Albert Lebrun
15th President of the French Republic Co-Prince of Andorra
In office 10 May 1932 – 10 July 1940
Preceded by	Paul Doumer
Succeeded by	Philippe Pétain (as Chief of State of Vichy France) Vincent Auriol in 1947 (no president from 1940 to 1947)
Born	29 August 1871 Mercy-le-Haut, Meurthe-et-Moselle
Died	March 6, 1950 (aged 78) Paris
Nationality	French
Political party	Democratic Alliance

Albert Lebrun (29 August 1871 – 6 March 1950) was a French politician, President of France from 1932 to 1940, and as such was the last president of the Third Republic. He was a member of the center-right Democratic Republican Alliance (ARD).

Born to a farming family in Mercy-le-Haut, Meurthe-et-Moselle, he attended the École Polytechnique and the École des Mines, graduating from both at the top of his class. He then became a mining engineer in Vesoul and Nancy, but left that profession at the age of 29 to enter 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 1912-1914, Minister of War in 1913 and Minister for Liberated Regions, 1917-1919. Joining the Democratic Alliance, he was elected to the French senate from Meurthe-et-Moselle in 1920, and served as Vice President of the Senate from 1925 through 1929. He was president of that body from 1931-1932.

Lebrun was elected president of France 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. On 10 July 1940, Lebrun was replaced by Philippe Pétain (although Lebrun never officially resigned) as head of state by a vote of the parliament.

He then fled to Vizille (Isère) on 15 July, but was captured on 27 August 1943 when the Germans moved into the region and was sent into captivity at the Itter Castle in Tyrol. On 10 October 1943 he was allowed to return to Vizelle due to poor health, but was kept under constant surveillance.

On 9 August 1944, when the Allies restored the French government, Lebrun met with Charles de Gaulle and acknowledged the General's leadership, saying that he had not formally resigned as president because the dissolution of the National Assembly had left nobody to accept his resignation.

After the war, Lebrun lived in retirement. He died of pneumonia in Paris after a protracted illness.

Lebrun has several well-known descendants in various countries, including the famous socialite Elisha Stenzel who is also related to Lebrun through her great-grandmother.

Political offices
Preceded by Paul Doumer	President of France 1932-1940	Succeeded by Philippe Pétain (Chief of State of Vichy France)
Regnal titles
Preceded by Paul Doumer and Justí Guitart i Vilardebó	Co-Prince of Andorra 1932-1940 with Justí Guitart i Vilardebó (until 30 January 1940)	Succeeded by Philippe Pétain with Ramon Iglesias i Navarri (from 4 April 1943)

v • d • e Republican heads of state of France Styled President of the Republic after 1871, except from 1940-44 (Chief of State) and 1944-47 (Chairman of the Provisional Government) First Republic (1792-1804) National Convention • Directory • Consulate Second Republic (1848-1852) Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure • Executive Commission • Louis-Eugène Cavaignac • Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte Government of National Defense (1870-1871) Louis Jules Trochu Third Republic (1871-1940) Adolphe Thiers • Patrice de Mac-Mahon • Jules Armand Dufaure • Jules Grévy • Maurice Rouvier • Sadi Carnot • Charles Dupuy • Jean Casimir-Perier • Charles Dupuy • Félix Faure • Charles Dupuy • Émile Loubet • Armand Fallières • Raymond Poincaré • Paul Deschanel • Alexandre Millerand • Alexandre Millerand • Frédéric François-Marsal • Gaston Doumergue • Paul Doumer • André Tardieu • Albert Lebrun Vichy France (1940-1944) Philippe Pétain Provisional Government (1944-1947) Charles de Gaulle • Félix Gouin • Georges Bidault • Vincent Auriol • Léon Blum Fourth Republic (1947-1959) Vincent Auriol · René Coty Fifth Republic (since 1959) Charles de Gaulle • Alain Poher • Georges Pompidou • Alain Poher • Valéry Giscard d'Estaing • François Mitterrand • Jacques Chirac • Nicolas Sarkozy Italics indicate interim officeholder

External links

• Lebrun biography

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