Édouard Herriot


Édouard Marie Herriot was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and twice as President of the Chamber of Deputies. He led the first Cartel des Gauches. Under the Fourth Republic, he served as President of the National Assembly until 1954. A historian by occupation, Herriot was elected to the Académie Française's eighth seat in 1946. He served as Mayor of Lyon for more than 45 years, from 1905 until his death, except for a brief period from 1940 to 1945, when he saw his movements variously restricted for opposing the Vichy regime.

Life

Herriot was born at Troyes, France on 5 July 1872. As Mayor of Lyon, Herriot improved relations between municipal government and local unions, increased public assistance funds, and began an urban renewal programme, amongst other measures. He died in Lyon on 26 March 1957. He went through a Deathbed conversion to Catholicism with Cardinal Pierre-Marie Gerlier, and was buried at the Loyasse Cemetery "with church ritual".

Herriot's First Ministry, 14 June 1924 – 17 April 1925

Changes

Herriot's Second Ministry, 19–23 July 1926

Herriot's Third Ministry, 3 June – 18 December 1932

Denial of Famine in Ukraine

Herriot's denial of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33 came after a visit to Ukraine between 26 August and 9 September 1933, shortly after leaving the French Prime Ministership. Herriot denied accounts of the famine and said that Soviet Ukraine was "like a garden in full bloom".
Furthermore, he announced to the press that there was no famine in Ukraine, that he did not see any trace of hunger, and that the allegations of starving millions were being spread by adversaries of the Soviet Union. "When one believes that the Ukraine is devastated by famine, allow me to shrug my shoulders", he declared. The 13 September 1933 issue of Pravda was able to write that Herriot "categorically contradicted the lies of the bourgeoisie press in connection with a famine in the USSR."

Political career

Governmental functions
Président of the Council of Ministers : 1924–1925 / 19–21 July 1926 / June–December 1932.
Minister of Transport, Public Works and Supply : 1916–1917.
Minister of Education and Fine Arts : 1926–1928.
Minister of Foreign Affairs : 1924–1925 / 19–21 July 1926 / June–December 1932.
Minister of State : 1934–1936.
Electoral mandates
National Assembly of France
President of the National Assembly of France : 1947–1954.
Member of the National Assembly of France for Rhône : 1946–1957. Elected in 1946, reelected in 1951, 1956.
Constitutional Assembly
Member of the Constitutional Assembly for Rhône : 1945–1946. Elected in 1945, reelected in June 1946.
Chamber of Deputies of France
President of the Chamber of Deputies of France : 1925–1926 / 1936–1940.
Member of the Chamber of Deputies of France for Rhône : 1919–1942. Elected in 1919, reelected in 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936.
Senate of France
Senator of Rhône : 1912–1919. Elected in 1911.
General council
General councillor of Rhône : 1945–1951.
Municipal Council
Mayor of Lyon : 1905–1940 / 1945–1957. Reelected in 1908, 1912, 1919, 1925, 1929, 1935, 1945, 1947, 1953.
Municipal councillor of Lyon : 1904–1940 / 1945–1957. Reelected in 1908, 1912, 1919, 1925, 1929, 1935, 1945, 1947, 1953.
Political functions
President of the Radical Party : 1919–1926 / 1931–1936 / 1948–1953 / 1955–1957.

Legacy

Herriot was declared an honorary citizen of the city of Veliki Bečkerek in 1933. There is also a street with his name in Zrenjanin.
His visit to a church in Kiev, where a fake religious service was organized for the occasion, is described in "The Mechanical Lions", one of the stories in A Tomb for Boris Davidovich by Danilo Kiš.