Édouard Daladier

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(b. Orange, 18 June 1884; d. 10 Oct. 1970) French; Prime Minister 1933, 1934, 1938 – 40 Born in 1884 in the southern city of Orange, Daladier's career — like those of Herriot and Laval — provides a good example of the opportunities provided by the state educational system of the Third Republic to talented boys from poor families. The son of a baker, he was educated at the Lyons lycée, obtained the prestigious agrégation, and entered local politics. He fought throughout the First World War and in 1919 was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. By the mid-1920s he had established himself as a pugnacious, ambitious, and effective spokesman for the left wing of the Radical party, whose president he became in 1926. An advocate of the traditional Radical values of anti-clericalism, social reform, and the property rights of the small man, he favoured co-operation with Blum's Socialist Party. He held office in a number of governments in the mid-1920s before briefly becoming Prime Minister in 1933. His move to the centre stage, in the 1930s, coincided with a darkening international climate caused by the rise to power of Hitler and the worsening economic situation. The aims of social progress and social stability with which the Radical Party, and Daladier, had identified were now under pressure. In 1934, when he became Prime Minister for the second time, the regime was under attack from an anti-parliamentary right enraged by economic hardship and evidence of political corruption. On 6 February 1934 a mass demonstration outside the Palais Bourbon degenerated into a riot in which nineteen people were killed. It looked like an open threat to the regime. Daladier stood firm against the disorder, but was forced to resign, in favour of a government of national union headed by former President Doumergue. He was criticized by the right for the bloodshed and by the left for submitting to street violence. Undaunted by these events, he threw himself into the movement for the defence of the Republic known as the Popular Front. This electoral alliance of Communists, Socialists, and Radicals revived memories of earlier campaigns in the defence of the Republic and restored Daladier's credentials. He was a senior member in Blum's 1936 government and initially backed its programme of social reform. But domestic politics were now hopelessly enmeshed with the ever worsening threat from Nazi Germany. Much of the Radical's electorate was outraged by the social reforms of the Popular Front. When Daladier became Prime Minister in 1938 he appeared to move sharply right. He crushed labour protest movement against austerity measures and he signed the Munich agreement with Hitler. Daladier was no ideological appeaser, but he felt there was no alternative. The tumultuous reception he received on his return from Munich suggested that most people agreed with him.

In 1939 Daladier's reputation was at its zenith and his party urged him, against all the traditions of the Third Republic, to persuade the President of the Republic to call for early general elections. With the onset of the Second World War, however, came a rapid political decline. He was unable to unite the French political class around the war or to frighten into silence the advocates of a compromise peace. Compelled to resign in February 1940 in favour of the more dynamic Reynaud he allowed personal bitterness to corrupt his judgment to the extent that he flirted with the advocates of peace at any price. Once the collapse occurred, however, his old patriotic Jacobinism reasserted itself. He was one of the group of regime dignitaries who tried unsuccessfully to carry on the war from North Africa and in 1941 launched a spirited defence of his actions when put on trial by the Vichy regime. He was deported to Germany. On his return he found himself an isolated, even despised figure. He fought back, was re-elected to parliament, and became mayor of Avignon. Though he never again held public office, he played an important, if secondary, role in the party politics of the Fourth Republic. In 1958 he demonstrated his enduring attachment to Republican principles by opposing de Gaulle's return to power. There was, however, no longer room for men of his age and beliefs. He withdrew from public life and died, ignored if not forgotten, in 1970.

The French statesman édouard Daladier (1884-1970) represented his country at the Munich Conference in September 1938.

The son of a baker, édouard Daladier was born on June 18, 1884, at Carpentras. An ardent Dreyfusard schoolteacher and member of the Radical Socialist party, he was elected to Parliament in 1919. He attained ministerial rank under his former teacher édouard Herriot in 1924 and served in most cabinets until 1940.

During his first premiership, from January to October 1933, Daladier signed the Four-Power Peace Pact with Great Britain, Germany, and Italy. Widely considered a "strong man," he was recalled to power in January 1934 to deal with disorders provoked by right-wing extremists. Un-deterred, they rioted in Paris on Feb. 6, 1934, and forced Daladier to resign after only 11 days in office. A rival of Herriot and leader of the progressive Radicals, Daladier led his party into Léon Blum's left-wing Popular Front coalition, which won the parliamentary elections of May 1936. He then became minister of national defense.

As international tension mounted following Hitler's annexation of Austria, France once more turned to a "strong man," and Daladier resumed the premiership in April 1938. With France the prisoner of British foreign policy, Daladier was forced to support the appeasement policy of Neville Chamberlain. Consequently, he was compelled to acquiesce in the dismembering of Czechoslovakia at Munich in 1938. This act destroyed the security system of France in eastern Europe and encouraged Adolf Hitler in his policy of aggression and violence.

Daladier declared war on Germany after Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939. He continued in office until March 20, 1940, when he yielded to another "strong man," Paul Reynaud. He remained in the government, however, as minister of war and then as foreign minister until June 16, 1940. Arrested in September by Vichy authorities, he was sent to Riom for trial in 1942. Daladier defended himself with such courage and vigor that the proceedings were suspended. In 1943 he was deported to Germany, where he remained until his liberation in April 1945.

After the war Daladier sought to resume his political career but with little success. Although returned to Parliament, he was too much identified with the events which led to the fall of France to regain his prewar position of leadership. Even his tenure as president of the Radical party after the death of Herriot in 1957 was brief and inglorious. After his electoral defeat in the parliamentary elections of November 1958, he retired. Daladier died in Paris on Oct. 10, 1970.

Further Reading

As with most French political leaders, Daladier has no biographer. His career before 1940, however, is intelligently discussed in Alexander Werth, The Twilight of France, 1933-1940 (1942); D. W. Brogan, The Development of Modern France, 1870-1939 (1947; rev. ed. 1966); and Peter J. Larmour, The French Radical Party in the 1930's (1964).

Additional Sources

Daladier, Edouard, Prison journal, 1940-1945, Boulder: West-view Press, 1995.