Paul Doumer

Paul Doumer
President of France
In office 13 June 1931 – 7 May 1932
Prime Minister	Pierre Laval André Tardieu
Preceded by	Gaston Doumergue
Succeeded by	Albert François Lebrun
Personal details
Born	22 March 1857 Aurillac, France
Died	Paris, France
Political party	Radical Party
Alma mater	University of Paris

Joseph Athanase Gaston Paul Doumer, commonly known as Paul Doumer (French pronunciation: ​[pɔl dumɛːʀ]; 22 March 1857 – 7 May 1932) was the President of France from 13 June 1931 until his assassination on 7 May 1932.

Biography

Doumer was born in Aurillac, in the Cantal département, in France on 22 March 1857. Alumnus of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, he became a professor of mathematics at Mende in 1877.

In 1878 Doumer married Blanche Richel, whom he had met at college. They had eight children, four of whom were killed in the First World War (including the French air ace René Doumer).

From 1879 until 1883 Doumer was professor at Remiremont, before leaving on health grounds. He then became chief editor of Courrier de l'Aisne, a French regional newspaper. Initiated into Freemasonry in 1879, at "L'Union Fraternelle" lodge, he became Grand Secretary of Grand Orient de France in 1892.

He made his debut in politics as chef de cabinet to Charles Floquet, when Floquet was president of the chamber in 1885. In 1888, Doumer was elected Radical deputy for the department of Aisne. Defeated in the general elections of September 1889, he was elected again in 1890 by the arrondissement of Auxerre. He was briefly Minister of Finance of France (1895–1896) when he tried without success to introduce an income tax.

Doumer was Governor-General of French Indochina from 1897 to 1902. Upon his arrival the colonies were losing millions of francs each year. Determined to put them on a paying basis he levied taxes on opium, wine and the salt trade. The Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians who could or would not pay these taxes, lost their houses and land, and often became day laborers. He established Indochina as a market for French products and a source of profitable investment by French businessmen. Doumer set about outfitting Indochina, especially Hanoi, the capital, with modern infrastructure befitting property of France. Tree-lined avenues and a large number of French Colonial buildings were constructed in Hanoi during his governance. The Long Bien Bridge and the Grand Palais in Hanoi were among large-scaled projects built during his term; the bridge was originally named after him. The palace was destroyed by airstrikes toward the end of World War 2. The bridge survived, became a well-known landmark and target for US pilots during the Vietnam War.

Caricature of Doumer, by Conrado W. Massaguer

After returning from French Indochina, Doumer was elected by Laon to the chamber as a Radical. He refused, however, to support the ministry of Émile Combes, and formed a Radical dissident group, which grew in strength and eventually caused the fall of the ministry. He then served as President of the Chamber of Deputies (a post equivalent to the speaker of the House of Commons) from 1902 to 1905.

Doumer became Minister of Finance of France again in 1925 when Louis Loucheur resigned. He then served as President of the French Senate from 1927 until the 1931 presidential election. He was elected President of the French Republic on 13 May 1931, defeating the better known Aristide Briand, and replacing Gaston Doumergue.

Assassination

On 6 May 1932, Paul Doumer was in Paris at the opening of a book fair at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, talking to the author Claude Farrère. Suddenly several shots were fired by Paul Gorguloff, a mentally unstable Russian émigré. Two of the shots hit Doumer, at the base of the skull and in the right armpit, and he fell to the ground. Claude Farrère wrestled with the assassin before the police arrived. Doumer was rushed to hospital in Paris, where he died at 04:37 AM on 7 May. He is the only French president to die of a gunshot wound.

Writings

As an author he is known by his L'Indo-Chine française (1904), and Le Livre de mes fils (1906).

See also

• List of Finance Ministers of France
• Politics of France

External links

• Newspaper clippings about Paul Doumer in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Political offices
Preceded by Gaston Doumergue	President of France 1931–1932	Succeeded by Albert Lebrun
Regnal titles
Preceded by Gaston Doumergue and Justí Guitart i Vilardebó	Co-Prince of Andorra 1931–1932 with Justí Guitart i Vilardebó	Succeeded by Albert Lebrun and Justí Guitart i Vilardebó