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80-398: Renowned architect John Russell Pope designed the house and completed it in 1912. Henry White, an American diplomat and a retired ambassador to Italy and France, purchased the property in 1910. He hosted numerous social events during his stay, inviting well-known guests, including Georges Clemenceau , Robert Cecil , Henry Cabot Lodge and President Warren Harding . In 1917, Henry White lent

160-443: A decade after his 1893 defeat, Clemenceau confined his political activities to journalism. His career was further clouded by the long-drawn-out Dreyfus case , in which he took an active part as a supporter of Émile Zola and an opponent of the anti-Semitic and nationalist campaigns. In all, during the affair Clemenceau published 665 articles defending Dreyfus. On 13 January 1898, Clemenceau published Émile Zola's J'Accuse...! on

240-599: A duel with him on 23 December 1892. Six shots were discharged, but neither participant was injured. Clemenceau remained the leading spokesman for French radicalism, but his hostility to the Franco-Russian Alliance so increased his unpopularity that in the French legislative elections of 1893 , he was defeated for his seat in the Chamber of Deputies after having held it continuously since 1876. For nearly

320-736: A gap was created in the British and French lines that risked handing over access to Paris to the Germans. This defeat cemented Clemenceau's belief, and that of the other allies, that a coordinated, unified command was the best option. It was decided that Ferdinand Foch would be appointed as " generalissimo ". The German line continued to advance and Clemenceau believed that the fall of Paris could not be ruled out. Public opinions arose that if "the Tiger", as well as Foch and Philippe Pétain stayed in power for even another week, France would be lost and that

400-411: A government headed by Aristide Briand would be beneficial to France, because he would make peace with Germany on advantageous terms. Clemenceau adamantly opposed these opinions and he gave an inspirational speech in the Chamber of Deputies; the chamber subsequently voted their confidence in him by 377 votes to 110. As the allied counter-offensives began to push the Germans back, it became clear that

480-618: A hallmark of his political career. On 23 June 1869, he married Mary Eliza Plummer (1849–1922), in New York City. She had attended the school where he taught horseback riding and was one of his students. She was the daughter of Harriet A. Taylor and William Kelly Plummer. Following their marriage, the Clemenceaus moved to France. They had three children together, Madeleine (born in 1870), Thérèse (1872) and Michel (1873). Although Clemenceau had many mistresses, when his wife took

560-407: A long line of physicians, but lived off his lands and investments and did not practice medicine. Benjamin was a political activist; he was arrested and briefly held in 1851 and again in 1858. He instilled in his son a love of learning, devotion to radical politics , and a hatred of Catholicism . The lawyer Albert Clemenceau (1861–1955) was his brother. His mother was a devout Protestant; his father

640-465: A peace, thus Clemenceau viewed Caillaux as a threat to national security. Unlike previous ministers, Clemenceau moved against Caillaux publicly. As a result, a parliamentary committee decided that Caillaux would be arrested and imprisoned for three years. Clemenceau believed, in the words of Jean Ybarnégaray , that Caillaux's crime "was not to have believed in victory [and] to have gambled on his nation's defeat". The arrest of Caillaux and others raised

720-399: A result of civil disturbances provoked by the implementation of the law on the separation of church and state and the victory of radicals in the French legislative elections of 1906 . The new government of Ferdinand Sarrien appointed Clemenceau as minister of the interior in the cabinet. On a domestic level, Clemenceau reformed the French police forces and ordered repressive policies toward

800-526: A sense of National Unity, preferred to side with Poincaré [the liberal centre-right] over the Cartel [Socialist Party], and who ended up turning vaguely into nationalists. Radicalism has always contained this kind of temperament, but has always ended up expelling them. Are they really a party of the Centre[-right]? In any case they have taken refuge there, without fully sharing the mindset, and in any case

880-432: A short time in office. It was said, "Like everyone else ... Clemenceau will not last long – only long enough to clean up [the war]." As the military situation worsened in early 1918, Clemenceau continued to support the policy of total war – "We present ourselves before you with the single thought of total war" – and the policy of "la guerre jusqu'au bout" (war until the end). His speech of 8 March advocating this policy

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960-580: A sound strategic plan. He nominated General Henri Mordacq to be his military chief of staff. Mordacq helped to inspire trust and mutual respect from the army to the government which proved essential to the final victory. Clemenceau also was well received by the media, because they felt that France was in need of strong leadership. It was widely recognized that throughout the war he was never discouraged and never stopped believing that France could achieve total victory. There were skeptics, however, who believed that Clemenceau, like other war-time leaders, would have

1040-570: A tutor of their children as her lover, Clemenceau had her put in jail for two weeks and then sent her back to the United States on a steamer in third class. The marriage ended in a contentious divorce in 1891. He obtained custody of their children. He then had his wife stripped of French nationality. Clemenceau had returned to Paris after the French defeat at the Battle of Sedan in 1870 during

1120-577: A weekly newsletter, Le Travail . On 23 February 1862, he was arrested by the imperial police for having placed posters summoning a demonstration. He spent 77 days in the Mazas Prison . Around the same time, Clemenceau also visited the old French revolutionary Auguste Blanqui and another Republican activist, Auguste Scheurer-Kestner , in jail, further deepening his hatred of the Napoleon III regime and advancing his fervent republicanism . He

1200-778: The Franco-Prussian War and the fall of the Second French Empire . After returning to medical practice as a physician in Vendée, he was appointed mayor of the 18th arrondissement of Paris , including Montmartre , and he also was elected to the National Assembly for the 18th arrondissement. When the Paris Commune seized power in March 1871, he tried unsuccessfully to find a compromise between

1280-771: The German invasion and Armistice , he demanded a total victory over the German Empire . Clemenceau stood for reparations, a transfer of colonies, strict rules to prevent a rearming process, as well as the restitution of Alsace–Lorraine , which had been annexed to Germany in 1871. He achieved these goals through the Treaty of Versailles signed at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920). Nicknamed Père la Victoire ("Father Victory") or Le Tigre ("The Tiger"), he continued his harsh position against Germany in

1360-687: The Middle Ages . As the revolt of the Languedoc winegrowers developed Clemenceau at first dismissed the complaints, then sent in troops to keep the peace in June 1907. During 1907 and 1908, he led the development of a new Entente cordiale with Britain, which gave France a successful role in European politics. Difficulties with Germany and criticism by the Socialist party in connection with

1440-668: The Radical Left group. In 1914 the Radical-Socialist Party ordered all candidates elected on its ticket to sit exclusively in the Radical-Socialist group, creating a clearer boundary between the two parties: the Radical Left group was now the parliamentary party of 'Independent' Radicals who quit the Radical-Socialist Party as well as those who refused to join it, normally out of disagreement with

1520-686: The anti-clericalist republican struggle. In June 1903, he undertook the direction of L'Aurore , the journal that he had founded. In it, he led the campaign to revisit the Dreyfus affair and to create a separation of church and state in France . The latter was implemented by the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State . In March 1906, the ministry of Maurice Rouvier fell as

1600-451: The interwar the Radical-Socialist Party was subject to small schisms over its attitude to the government of the day. Whenever the more conservative Radical-Socialists quit their caucus, they would either join the Radical Left group directly, or form a small splinter Radical group that eventually merged into the Radical Left. In 1938 an Independent Radical Party was formed from the merger of two groups that had at different points split off from

1680-496: The 1920s, although not quite so much as President Raymond Poincaré or former Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch , who thought the treaty was too lenient on Germany, prophetically stating: "This is not peace. It is an armistice for twenty years." Clemenceau obtained mutual defence treaties with the United Kingdom and the United States, to unite against possible future German aggression, but these never took effect due to

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1760-576: The Catholic Church. After his studies in the Lycée in Nantes , Clemenceau received his French baccalaureate of letters in 1858. He went to Paris to study medicine and eventually graduated with the completion of his thesis " De la génération des éléments anatomiques " in 1865. In Paris, the young Clemenceau became a political activist and writer. In December 1861, he and some friends co-founded

1840-437: The Germans could no longer win the war. Although they still occupied vast amounts of French territory, they did not have sufficient resources and manpower to continue their attack. As countries allied to Germany began to ask for an armistice, it was obvious that Germany would soon follow. On 11 November 1918, an armistice with Germany was signed. Clemenceau was embraced in the streets and attracted many admiring crowds. To settle

1920-578: The Left, and who therefore voted with the Right on [economic] interests, and with the Left on political issues". Originally in the 1900s French political parties were extraparliamentary organisations focussed entirely on campaigning, separate from the associated parliamentary group . Two 'Radical' parliamentary groups existed, sharing a certain overlap in ideology: the Radical-Socialist group and

2000-664: The Meyer family. A path of brick and pebbles leads to an iron gate with a circle, which represents the meridians and connects the White-Meyer House to the Meridian House . An extensive renovation of the house in 1988 won the American Institute Award for Excellence, the house's architectural integrity and original garden were preserved as much as possible the original fireplaces were preserved while

2080-670: The Meyers' deaths, the house became the property of the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, which then leased the house to the Antioch Law School Library. In 1987, Meridian International Center purchased the property. White-Meyer house is considered historically significant due to its past guests and because architect John Russell Pope created it, the White-Meyer building was the first of the two houses created. It

2160-542: The Radical Party over Boulangism weakened his hand and its collapse meant that moderate republicans did not need his help. A further misfortune occurred in the Panama affair , as Clemenceau's relations with the businessman and politician Cornelius Herz led to his being included in the general suspicion. In response to accusations of corruption levelled by the nationalist politician Paul Déroulède , Clemenceau fought

2240-414: The Radical-Socialist Party in protest at its choice of allies: Henry Franklin-Bouillon 's anti-socialist Social and Unionist Radicals (formed in 1927), and André Grisoni 's anti-communist 'French Radical Party' (formed in 1936). The tendency was described by André Siegfried (Tableau des Partis en France) for the case of Franklin-Bouillon's dissidents: "a group largely of former Radical-Socialists who from

2320-640: The Radical-Socialists' preference for allying with the Socialist Party . From 1914 to 1940, Radical Republicans in parliament were therefore mostly split into two distinct groups, on the one hand the Radical-Socialist Party and on the other the Independent Radicals some of whom sat unaffiliated but most sitting in the Radical Left group. This largely came down less to ideology and rather their preference in coalition partner:

2400-561: The SFIO, in June 1906. Clemenceau's speech positioned him as the strong man of the day in French politics; when the Sarrien ministry resigned in October, Clemenceau became premier. After a proposal by the deputy Paul Dussaussoy for limited women's suffrage in local elections, Clemenceau published a pamphlet in 1907 in which he declared that if women were given the vote France would return to

2480-546: The Socialist Party to their left or the secular conservative-liberals of the centre-right Democratic Alliance . This made the Radical Left a pivotal party, and regardless of whether the government was centre-left or centre-right there was usually one or more Independent Radical in cabinet. Several of France's most powerful political figures were Independent Radicals, including Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and President Gaston Doumergue . At various moments during

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2560-571: The Socialists. At the outbreak of World War I in France in August 1914, Clemenceau's newspaper was one of the first to be censored by the government. It was suspended from 29 September 1914 to 7 October. In response, Clemenceau changed the newspaper's name to L'Homme enchaîné ("The Chained Man") and criticized the government for its lack of transparency and its ineffectiveness, while defending

2640-647: The U.S. Senate's failure to ratify the treaty, which thus also nullified British obligation. Clemenceau was a native of Vendée , born in Mouilleron-en-Pareds . During the period of the French Revolution , Vendée had been a hotbed of monarchist sympathies . The department was remote from Paris, rural, and poor. His mother, Sophie Eucharie Gautreau (1817–1903), was of Huguenot descent. His father, Benjamin Clemenceau (1810–1897), came from

2720-409: The collapse of popular support for a war effort. The Prefect of Police gave the same advice, but the government did not follow it. In the end, 80% of the 2,501 people listed on Carnet B as subversives volunteered for service. In autumn 1914, Clemenceau declined to join the government of national unity as justice minister. He was a vehement critic of the wartime French government, asserting that it

2800-422: The course of the war) and so, had to rely on himself and his own circle of friends. Clemenceau's assumption of power meant little to the men in the trenches at first. They thought of him as "just another politician", and the monthly assessment of troop morale found that only a minority found comfort in his appointment. Slowly, however, as time passed, the confidence he inspired in a few, began to grow throughout all

2880-593: The darkest hours for the French war effort in World War I, Clemenceau was appointed to the prime ministership. Unlike his predecessors, he discouraged internal disagreement and called for peace among the senior politicians. Clemenceau governed from the Ministry of War on Rue Saint-Dominique . Almost his first act as prime minister was to relieve General Maurice Sarrail from his command of the Salonika front . This

2960-607: The death of more than one thousand persons, threatened widespread disorder on 1 May 1906. Clemenceau ordered the military against the strikers and repressed the wine growers strike in the Languedoc-Roussillon . His actions alienated the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) socialist party, from which he definitively broke in his notable reply in the Chamber of Deputies to Jean Jaurès , leader of

3040-599: The fall of the Ferry cabinet that year. During the French legislative elections of 1885 , he advocated a strong radical programme and was returned both for his old seat in Paris and for the Var , district of Draguignan . He chose to represent the latter in the Chamber of Deputies. Refusing to form a ministry to replace the one he had overthrown, he supported the right in keeping Prime Minister Charles de Freycinet in power in 1886 and

3120-586: The fall of the commune, he was elected to the Paris municipal council on 23 July 1871 for the Clignancourt quarter and retained his seat until 1876. He first held the offices of secretary and vice-president, then he became president in 1875. In 1876, Clemenceau stood for the Chamber of Deputies (which replaced the National Assembly in 1875) and was elected for the 18th arrondissement. He joined

3200-621: The far left and his energy and mordant eloquence speedily made him the leader of the radical section. In 1877, after the Crisis of 16 May 1877 , he was one of the republican majority who denounced the ministry of the Duc de Broglie . Clemenceau led resistance to the anti-republican policy of which the incident of 16 May was a manifestation. In 1879, his demand for the indictment of the Broglie ministry brought him prominence. From 1876 to 1880, Clemenceau

3280-480: The far left in the Chamber of Deputies, he was an active opponent of the colonial policy of Prime Minister Jules Ferry , which he opposed on moral grounds and also as a form of diversion from the more important goal of " Revenge against Germany " for the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine after the Franco-Prussian War . In 1885, his criticism of the conduct of the Sino-French War contributed strongly to

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3360-466: The fighting men. They were encouraged by his many visits to the trenches. This confidence began to spread from the trenches to the home front and it was said, "We believed in Clemenceau rather in the way that our ancestors believed in Joan of Arc." After years of criticism against the French army for its conservatism and Catholicism, Clemenceau would need help to get along with the military leaders to achieve

3440-534: The front page of the Paris daily newspaper, L'Aurore , of which he was owner and editor. He decided to run the controversial article that would become a famous part of the Dreyfus Affair in the form of an open letter to Félix Faure , the president of France. In 1900, he withdrew from La Justice to found a weekly review, Le Bloc , to which he practically was the sole contributor. The publication of Le Bloc lasted until 15 March 1902. On 6 April 1902, he

3520-640: The handling of the First Moroccan Crisis in 1905–06 were settled at the Algeciras Conference . Clemenceau was defeated on 20 July 1909 in a discussion in the Chamber of Deputies on the state of the navy, in which bitter words he exchanged with Théophile Delcassé , the former president of the Council whose downfall Clemenceau had aided. Refusing to respond to Delcassé's technical questions, Clemenceau resigned after his proposal for

3600-409: The house to the French mission of Marshal Joseph Joffre to use as its headquarters. While the French flag flew outside of the residence, Marshal Joffre used the house to host high-level strategic meetings. Many important conversations were had at the dining room table, including conversations that led to the establishment of the U.S Department of Health , Education and Welfare. When Henry White died,

3680-571: The house was passed on to his son John Campbell White . Financier Eugene Meyer rented the home while he was Chairman of the Federal Reserve (1930–1933), after which he bought the bankrupt Washington Post at auction. In 1934, Meyer bought the house from White for $ 355,000. During their ownership of the home, the Meyers hosted many prominent guests, including Eleanor Roosevelt , John F. Kennedy , Robert F. Kennedy , Adlai Stevenson , Thomas Mann , Earl Warren and Saul Alinsky . After

3760-738: The house's walls and ceilings were renovated. White-Meyer is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . It was listed on the District of Columbia's Inventory of Historic Places in 1964. It has been listed on NRHP since January 20, 1988. [REDACTED] Media related to White-Meyer House at Wikimedia Commons Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau ( / ˈ k l ɛ m ə n s oʊ / , also US : / ˌ k l ɛ m ə n ˈ s oʊ , ˌ k l eɪ m ɒ̃ ˈ s oʊ / , French: [ʒɔʁʒ(ə) bɛ̃ʒamɛ̃ klemɑ̃so] ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929)

3840-580: The imperial regime. As part of his journalistic activity, Clemenceau covered the country's recovery following the Civil War , the workings of American democracy, and the racial questions related to the end of slavery . From his time in America, he retained a strong faith in American democratic ideals as opposed to France's imperial regime, as well as a sense of political compromise that later would become

3920-516: The international political issues left over from the conclusion of World War I, it was decided that a peace conference would be held in Paris, France. Famously, the Treaty of Versailles between Germany and the Allied Powers to conclude the conflict was signed in the Palace of Versailles , but the deliberations on which it was based were conducted in Paris, hence the name given to the meeting of

4000-435: The issue of Clemenceau's harshness, who in turn argued that the only powers he assumed were those necessary for winning the war. The many trials and arrests aroused great public excitement. These trials, far from making the public fear the government, inspired confidence, as the public felt that for the first time in the war, action was being taken and they were being firmly governed. The claims that Clemenceau's "firm government"

4080-708: The more radical leaders of the Commune and the more conservative French government. The Commune declared that he had no legal authority to be mayor and seized the city hall of the 18th arrondissement. He ran for election to the Paris Commune council, but received fewer than eight hundred votes and took no part in its governance. He was in Bordeaux when the commune was suppressed by the French Army in May 1871. After

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4160-399: The order of the day vote was rejected. He was succeeded as premier by Aristide Briand , with a reconstructed cabinet. Between 1909 and 1912, Clemenceau dedicated his time to travel, conferences, and the treatment of his illness. He went to South America in 1910, traveling to Brazil , Uruguay , and Argentina (where he went as far as Santa Ana (Tucuman) in northwest Argentina). There, he

4240-427: The party between 1924-5 continued to sit as an independent Radical. Others include the Breton deputy Pierre Michel, who in 1932 initially chose to sit among the Radical Left group before, a year later, moving permanently to sit with the Radical-Socialist group. Over time the boundaries between the Independent Radicals and the Left Republicans group (caucus of the Democratic Alliance ) grew less clear. In 1936 an attempt

4320-441: The patriotic union sacrée against the German Empire . In spite of the censorship imposed by the French government on Clemenceau's journalism at the beginning of World War I, he still wielded considerable political influence. As soon as the war started, Clemenceau advised Interior Minister Malvy to invoke Carnet B , a list of known and suspected subversives who were supposed to be arrested upon mobilisation, in order to prevent

4400-406: The pure Radical[-Socialist]s would not forgive their dissidency and welcome them back." It is worth noting, however, that the Radical-Socialists did welcome some of them back, and on the margins of the two parties there was much overlap and back-and-forth. The most noteworthy rogue Radical-Socialist to be reinstated was Albert Sarraut , leader of the party's right-wing, who during his expulsion from

4480-427: The remaining deported Communards returned to France, including his friend Louise Michel . In 1880, Clemenceau started his newspaper, La Justice , which became the principal organ of Parisian Radicalism . From this time, throughout the presidency of Jules Grévy (1879–1887), he became widely known as a political critic and destroyer of ministries ( le Tombeur de ministères ) who avoided taking office himself. Leading

4560-407: The resignation of Jules Grévy from the presidency of France in 1887. He had declined Grévy's request to form a cabinet upon the downfall of the cabinet of Maurice Rouvier by advising his followers not to vote for Charles Floquet , Jules Ferry, nor Charles de Freycinet, Clemenceau was primarily responsible for the election of an "outsider", Marie François Sadi Carnot , as president. The split in

4640-422: The return of Alsace-Lorraine to France. This meant that victory would fulfil the war aim that was crucial for the French public. Clemenceau was sceptical about some other points, however, including those concerning the League of Nations , as he believed that the latter could succeed only in a utopian society. On 21 March 1918, the Germans began their great spring offensive . The allies were caught off guard and

4720-419: The time there was a genuine difference in temperament. In 1930, the Independent Radical Raoul Péret became Minister of Justice in André Tardieu 's cabinet. He was incidentally the cause of his fall because of his personal links with the banker Albert Oustric . In the Senate , the Independent Radicals sat in the Democratic and Radical Union ( Union démocratique et radicale ) parliamentary group. After

4800-399: The victorious heads of state that produced the treaties signed with the defeated powers: the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. On 13 December 1918, United States president Woodrow Wilson received an enthusiastic welcome in France. His Fourteen Points and the concept of a League of Nations had made a big impact on the war-weary French. At their first meeting, Clemenceau realized that Wilson

4880-532: The war, a scarcity of resources, and air raids that were causing huge physical damage to Paris as well as undermining the morale of its citizens. It also was believed that many politicians secretly wanted peace. It was a challenging situation for Clemenceau; after years of criticizing other men during the war, he suddenly found himself in a position of supreme power. He was isolated politically, however. He did not have close links with any parliamentary leaders (especially after he had antagonized them so relentlessly during

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4960-406: The workers movement. He supported the formation of scientific police by Alphonse Bertillon and founded the Brigades mobiles (French for "mobile squads") led by Célestin Hennion . These squads were nicknamed Brigades du Tigre ("The Tiger's Brigades") after Clemenceau, who was nicknamed "The Tiger". The miners strike in the Pas de Calais after the Courrières mine disaster , which resulted in

5040-439: The years 1865–1869, following the American Civil War . He maintained a medical practice, but spent much of his time on political journalism for a Parisian newspaper, Le Temps . He taught French in Great Barrington, Massachusetts , and also taught and rode horseback at a private girls' school in Stamford, Connecticut , where he would meet his future wife. During this time, he joined French exile clubs in New York that were opposing

5120-496: Was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A physician turned journalist, he played a central role in the politics of the Third Republic , particularly amid the end of the First World War . He was a key figure of the Independent Radicals , advocating for the separation of church and state , as well as the amnesty of the Communards exiled to New Caledonia . After about 1,400,000 French soldiers were killed between

5200-422: Was a dictatorship found little support. Clemenceau was still held accountable to the people and media. He relaxed censorship on political views as he believed that newspapers had the right to criticize political figures: "The right to insult members of the government is inviolable." In 1918, Clemenceau thought that France should adopt Woodrow Wilson 's Fourteen Points , mainly because of its point that called for

5280-497: Was a man of principle and conscience. Independent Radicals The Independent Radicals ( French : Radicaux indépendants ) were a centrist or conservative-liberal political current during the French Third Republic . It was slightly to the right of the more famous Radical-Socialist Party , and shared much of its historical radicalism . The prominent political scientist André Siegfried described them as "Social [that is, economic] conservatives who did not want to break with

5360-408: Was amazed by the influence of French culture and of the French Revolution on local elites. He published the first issue of the Journal du Var on 10 April 1910. Three years later, on 6 May 1913, he founded L'Homme libre ("The Free Man") newspaper in Paris, for which he wrote a daily editorial. In these media, Clemenceau focused increasingly on foreign policy and condemned the anti-militarism of

5440-521: Was an atheist and insisted that his children should have no religious education. Clemenceau was interested in religious issues. He was a lifelong atheist with a sound knowledge of the Bible . He became a leader of anti-clerical or "Radical" forces that battled against the Catholic Church in France and the Catholics in politics. He stopped short of the more extreme attacks. His position was that if church and state were kept rigidly separated, he would not support oppressive measures designed to further weaken

5520-470: Was blamed for having blocked a possible compromise peace, but it is now clear from examination of German documents that Germany had no serious intention of handing over Alsace-Lorraine. The prominence of his opposition made him the best known critic and the last man standing when the others had failed. "Messieurs, les Allemands sont toujours à Noyon " (Gentlemen, the Germans are still at Noyon) wrote Clemenceau's paper endlessly. In November 1917, at one of

5600-399: Was designed and built between 1910 and 1912 the house totaled the cost of $ 155,547, the Georgian revival style mansion holds 40 rooms and sits atop Meridian Hill surrounded by a tall brick enclosure with an opening on the North side of Crescent Place. The garden plaza contains most of the original garden including yews, magnolias, weeping hemlocks and witch hazels that were originally planted by

5680-454: Was elected senator for the Var district of Draguignan , although he had previously called for the suppression of the French Senate , as he considered it a strong-house of conservatism. He served as the senator for Draguignan until 1920. Clemenceau sat with the Independent Radicals in the Senate and moderated his positions, although he still vigorously supported the Radical-Socialist ministry of Prime Minister Émile Combes , who spearheaded

5760-644: Was graduated as a doctor of medicine on 13 May 1865, founded several literary magazines, and wrote many articles, most of which attacked the imperial regime of Napoleon III . After a failed love affair, Clemenceau left France for the United States as the imperial agents began cracking down on dissidents and sending most of them to the bagne de Cayennes ( Devil's Island Penal System) in French Guiana . Clemenceau worked in New York City during

5840-484: Was inclined to open negotiations with Germany. Clemenceau argued that even German restitution of Alsace-Lorraine and the liberation of Belgium would not be enough to justify France abandoning her allies. This forced Alexandre Ribot and Aristide Briand (both the previous two prime ministers, of whom the latter was by far the more powerful politician who had been approached by a German diplomat) to agree in public that there would be no separate peace. For many years, Clemenceau

5920-414: Was little activity on the western front because it was believed that there should be limited attacks until the American support arrived. At this time, Italy was on the defensive, Russia virtually had stopped fighting – and it was believed that they would be making a separate peace with Germany (See also Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ) . At home, the government had to deal with increasing demonstrations against

6000-531: Was made by the liberal former-premier Pierre-Étienne Flandin to merge the two groups under the label Alliance of Left Republicans and Independent Radicals (ARGRI). It ultimately failed: while some Independent Radicals joined, others refused and continued the old caucus under the name "Independent Radical and Democratic Left" group. While today the distinction between conservative Radicals and conservative Liberals appears arcane (these two tendencies had already merged, or would later merge, in most European countries), at

6080-534: Was not doing enough to win the war. His stance was driven by a will to regain the province of Alsace-Lorraine, a view shared by public opinion. The autumn of 1917 saw the disastrous Italian defeat at the Battle of Caporetto , the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia , and rumours that former Prime Minister Joseph Caillaux and Interior Minister Louis Malvy might have engaged in treason. Prime Minister Paul Painlevé

6160-478: Was one of the main defenders of the general amnesty of thousands of Communards, members of the revolutionary government of the 1871 Paris Commune who had been deported to New Caledonia . Along with other radicals and figures such as poet and then-Senator Victor Hugo , as well as a growing number of republicans, he supported several unsuccessful proposals. Finally a general amnesty was adopted on 11 July 1880. The "reconciliation" envisaged by Clemenceau could begin, as

6240-563: Was responsible for the inclusion of Georges Ernest Boulanger in the Freycinet cabinet as war minister. When General Boulanger revealed himself as an ambitious pretender, Clemenceau withdrew his support and became a vigorous opponent of the heterogeneous Boulangist movement, although the radical press continued to patronize the general. By his exposure of the Wilson scandal , and by his personal plain speaking, Clemenceau contributed largely to

6320-455: Was so effective that it left a vivid impression on Winston Churchill , who would make similar speeches upon becoming British prime minister in 1940. Clemenceau's war policy encompassed the promise of victory with justice, loyalty to the fighting men, and immediate and severe punishment of crimes against France. Joseph Caillaux , a former French prime minister, disagreed with Clemenceau's policies. He wanted to surrender to Germany and negotiate

6400-713: Was the main topic of discussion at the first meeting of the war committee on 6 December, at which Clemenceau stated, "Sarrail cannot remain there". The reason for Sarrail's dismissal was his links with the socialist politicians Joseph Caillaux and Louis Malvy (at that time suspected of treasonable contacts with the Germans) Churchill later wrote that Clemenceau "looked like a wild animal pacing to and fro behind bars" in front of "an assembly which would have done anything to avoid putting him there, but, having put him there, felt they must obey". When Clemenceau became prime minister in 1917 victory seemed to be elusive. There

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