Tardieu, André

(1876-1945)

   political figure

   Born in Paris and educated at the École normale supérieure, André Tardieu served as leader of the pierre waldeck-rousseau cabinet foreign news editor of Le Temps (1902). He was elected deputy (1914) and was chosen by georges Clemenceau to be the special commissioner of France to the united States (1917-18). He took part in the Paris Peace Conference (1919) and served as minister for the liberated regions of Alsace-Lorraine (1919-20). At the peace conference, he played a leading role in drafting the political and territorial claims of the Treaty of Versailles. A founder of L'Echo national, in 1924 he lost in the general election (during the victory of the cartel des gauches), but was reelected in 1926 and appointed successively by Raymond poincaré as minister of public works (1926-28) and the interior (1928-29). As prime minister (November 1929-December 1930), during a time of international economic and financial crises, he carved out a policy of optimistic politics, making important economic decisions (social security, free education, military pensions, major public work, and the like. Losing power for a time, Tardieu later became minister of agriculture and then of war in the pierre laval cabinets (1931-32). He was recalled to be premier (February-May 1932) and served for a final time as a minister in the gaston doumerge cabinet (1934) and was charged with the study of constitutional reform. Tardieu retired from public life in 1935. His writings include La Paix (1921), Sur la pente (1935), La Révolution à refaire (1936-37).