Biography of Léon Blum

Name: Léon Blum
Birth Date: April 9, 1872
Death Date: March 30, 1950
Place of Birth: Paris, France
Nationality: French
Gender: Male
Occupations: premier, statesman

Léon Blum

The French statesman Léon Blum (1872-1950) was the first Socialist, as well as the first Jewish, premier of France. In 1936 the government he headed enacted the most extensive program of social reforms in French history.Léon Blum was born in Paris on April 9, 1872, into a wealthy family of Alsatian textile merchants. Although trained as a lawyer, he first gained public attention as a drama critic. Influenced by the Dreyfus Affair and by the socialist theories of Jean Jaurès, Blum joined the Socialist party in 1902. After the assassination of Jaurès in 1914, Blum was regarded as his spiritual and political heir.After serving as executive secretary to the Socialist leader Marcel Sembat during World War I, Blum was elected to parliament in 1919. When the Communists broke away from the Socialist party in 1920, Blum became the leader of the weakened party and worked tirelessly to restore …showed first 150 words…

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…showed last 150 words…presided for a month, beginning on Dec. 16, 1946, over an all-Socialist caretaker Cabinet that installed the Fourth Republic. Although officially in retirement after January 1947, Blum served as André Marie's vice premier in August 1948. He also retained leadership of the Socialist party and contributed a daily column to the party organ, Le Populaire, until his sudden death on March 30, 1950. Associated Organizations Further Reading The definitive biography is Joel Colton, Léon Blum: Humanist in Politics (1966). Less sympathetic but useful is the essay in James Joll, Three Intellectuals in Politics (1960). For Blum's place in the history of the Third Republic see D. W. Brogan, The Development of Modern France, 1870-1939 (1940; rev. ed., 2 vols., 1966).Bronner, Stephen Eric, Léon Blum, New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987.Colton, Joel G., Léon Blum: humanist in politics, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press 1974.Lacouture, Jean., Léon Blum, New York, N.Y.: Holmes & Meier, 1982.

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