Editing Paul Doumer

{{Short description|President of France from 1931 to 1932}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Paul Doumer
| image               = Paul-Doumer (cropped).jpg
| caption             = Doumer in 1931
| office              = [[President of France]]
| term_start          = 13 June 1931
| term_end            = 7 May 1932
| predecessor         = [[Gaston Doumergue]]
| primeminister       = [[Pierre Laval]]<br>[[André Tardieu]]
| successor           = [[Albert Lebrun]]
| office1             = [[List of presidents of the Senate of France|President of the Senate]]
| term_start1         = 14 January 1927
| term_end1           = 9 June 1931
| predecessor1        = [[Justin de Selves]]
| successor1          = Albert Lebrun
| office4             = [[List of Finance Ministers of France|Minister of Finance]]
| term_start4         = 16 December 1925
| term_end4           = 9 March 1926
| primeminister4      = [[Aristide Briand]]
| predecessor4        = [[Louis Loucheur]]
| successor4          = [[Raoul Péret]]
| term_start5         = 16 January 1921
| term_end5           = 15 January 1922
| primeminister5      = Aristide Briand
| predecessor5        = [[Frédéric François-Marsal]]
| successor5          = [[Charles de Lasteyrie]]
| term_start6         = 1 November 1895
| term_end6           = 29 April 1896
| primeminister6      = [[Léon Bourgeois]]
| predecessor6        = [[Alexandre Ribot]]
| successor6          = [[Georges Cochery]]
| office7             = [[List of presidents of the Chamber of Deputies of France|President of the Chamber of Deputies]]
| term_start7         = 10 January 1905
| term_end7           = 31 May 1906
| predecessor7        = [[Henri Brisson]]
| successor7          = Henri Brisson
| office11            = [[List of Governors-General of French Indochina|Governor-General]] of [[French Indochina]]
| term_start11        = 13 February 1897
| term_end11          = 14 March 1902
| predecessor11       = Armand Rousseau
| successor11         = Paul Beau
| birth_date          = 22 March 1857
| birth_place         = [[Aurillac]], [[Second French Empire|France]]
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1932|5|7|1857|3|22|df=y}}
| death_place         = [[Paris]], [[French Third Republic|France]]
| party               = [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| alma_mater          = [[University of Paris]]<br>[[Conservatoire national des arts et métiers]]
| death_cause         = [[Assassination|Assassination by gunshot]]
| signature           = Signature de Paul Doumer - Archives nationales (France).svg
}}

'''Joseph Athanase Doumer''', commonly known as '''Paul Doumer''' ({{IPA|fr|pɔl dumɛːʀ|lang}}; 22 March 1857{{snd}}7 May 1932), was a French politician who served as the [[President of France]] from June 1931 until his assassination in May 1932. He is described as "the Father of French Indochina,"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Logan |first=William Stewart |url= |title=Hanoi: Biography of a City |date=2000 |publisher=UNSW Press |isbn=978-0-86840-443-1 |pages=76 |language=en}}</ref> and was seen as one of the most active and effective governors general of Indochina.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-03-18 |title=Paul Doumer {{!}} French politician, governor-general, assassination {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Paul-Doumer |access-date=2024-04-27 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life==
Joseph Athanase Doumer was born in [[Aurillac]], in the [[Cantal]] ''[[département]]'', in France on 22 March 1857, into a family of modest means. Alumnus of the {{lang|fr|[[Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers]]|italic=no}},<ref>[http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/histoire/presidents/paul_doumer.asp Alumnus of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers]</ref> he became a professor of [[mathematics]] at [[Mende, Lozère|Mende]] in 1877.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sasges |first=Gerard |url= |title=Imperial Intoxication: Alcohol and the Making of Colonial Indochina |date=2017-09-30 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-6691-4 |pages=52 |language=en}}</ref>

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]]).

== Career ==
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.<ref>Dictionnaire de la Franc-Maçonnerie, page 363 (Daniel Ligou, Presses Universitaires de France, 2006)</ref><ref>Dictionnaire universelle de la Franc-Maçonnerie, page 245 (Marc de Jode, Monique Cara and Jean-Marc Cara, ed. Larousse, 2011)</ref><ref>Histoire de la Franc-Maçonnerie française (Pierre Chevallier, ed. Fayard, 1975)</ref>

[[File:Paul Doumer-1.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Paul Doumer in a photograph by [[André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri]]]]
He made his debut in politics in 1885 as ''chef de cabinet'' to [[Charles Floquet]], then president of the [[Chamber of Deputies (France)|Chamber of Deputies]] (a post equivalent to the [[Speaker (politics)|speaker]] of the House of Commons). 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.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Doumer, Paul|volume=8|page=450}}</ref>

Doumer was [[Governor-General of French Indochina]] from 1897 to 1902. Upon his arrival the colonies were losing millions of francs annually. 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 not 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.<ref name=Ladenburg>{{cite web|last1=Ladenburg|first1=Thomas|title=The French in Indochina|url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/teachers/lesson_plans/pdfs/unit12_1.pdf|website=digitalhistory.uh.edu|publisher=University of Houston|access-date=11 September 2015}}</ref> 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 (Hanoi)|Grand Palais]] in Hanoi were among large-scale projects built during his term; the bridge was originally named after him. The palace was destroyed by airstrikes toward the end of World War II. The bridge survived, and became a well-known landmark and target for [[United States Air Force|US pilots]] during the [[Vietnam War]].

With a view to annexing south Yunnan to French Indochina, Doumer successfully lobbied the French government to approve construction of the [[Indochina-Yunnan railway]] in 1898.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rousseau |first=Jean-François |date=2014-06-01 |title=An Imperial Railway Failure: The Indochina—Yunnan Railway, 1898–1941 |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.7227/TJTH.35.1.2 |journal=The Journal of Transport History |language=en |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |doi=10.7227/TJTH.35.1.2 |s2cid=111066738 |issn=0022-5266}}</ref>

After returning to France, Doumer was elected by [[Laon]] to the Chamber of Deputies as a [[Radical Party (France)|Radical]]. He refused 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.<ref name="EB1911"/> He then served as President of the Chamber from 1902 to 1905.

Doumer became Minister of Finance of France again in 1925 when [[Louis Loucheur]] resigned.<ref>{{cite news |title=Paul Doumer Has Succeeded Louis Loucheur. Latter Forced to Resign as Minister of Finance. Other Names Mentioned |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/access/300526602.html?dids=300526602:300526602&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Dec+16,+1925&author=By+SISLEY+HUDDLESTON+By+Special+Cable&pub=Christian+Science+Monitor&desc=PAUL+DOUMER+HAS+SUCCEEDED+LOUIS+LOUCHEUR&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104115420/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/csmonitor_historic/access/300526602.html?dids=300526602:300526602&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Dec+16,+1925&author=By+SISLEY+HUDDLESTON+By+Special+Cable&pub=Christian+Science+Monitor&desc=PAUL+DOUMER+HAS+SUCCEEDED+LOUIS+LOUCHEUR&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |work=[[United Press]] |date=December 16, 1925 |access-date=2010-11-13 }}</ref> He then served as [[President of the French Senate]] from 1927 until the [[French Presidential elections under the Third Republic|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]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Paul Doumer Becomes President Of France  |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-johAAAAIBAJ&pg=5164,3939342&dq=paul+doumer&hl=en |work=[[United Press]] |date=June 14, 1931|access-date=2010-11-13 }}</ref>

==Death==
On 6 May 1932, Paul Doumer was in Paris at the opening of a book fair at the [[Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild]], talking to author [[Claude Farrère]]. Suddenly several shots were fired by [[Paul Gorguloff]], a [[Russia]]n 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 the hospital in Paris, where he died at 04:37 on 7 May. He is the only French president to die of a gunshot wound (although [[Sadi Carnot (statesman)|president Sadi Carnot]] had been assassinated by being stabbed 38 years before).

===Trial===
Gorguloff was indicted for murder and executed by the [[guillotine]] four months later, after a swift trial.<ref>{{cite journal <!-- Citation bot bypass-->|language=fr|date=2011|first=Amaury|last=Lorin|title=Un « régicide républicain » : Paul Doumer, le président assassiné (6 mai 1932)|journal=Criminocorpus|publisher=Centre pour les humanités numériques et l’histoire de la justice (Clamor)|location=Paris|url=https://journals.openedition.org/criminocorpus/435|doi=10.4000/criminocorpus.435|issn=2108-6907|via=[[OpenEdition.org|OpenEdition Journals]]}}</ref>

==Aftermath==
[[André Maurois]] was an eyewitness to the assassination, having come to the book fair to autograph copies of his book. He later described the scene in his autobiography, ''Call No Man Happy''. As Maurois notes, because the President was assassinated at a meeting of writers, it was decided that writers - Maurois among them - should stand guard over the body while he lay in state at the [[Élysée]].<ref>[[Andre Maurois]], ''Call No Man Happy'', English translation by the Reprint Society, London, 1944, Ch. XIX, P. 221-222</ref>

==Writings==
As an author he is known by his ''L'Indo-Chine française'' (1904), and ''Le Livre de mes fils'' (1906).<ref name="EB1911" />
[[File:1921 Paul Doumer Autochrome.jpg|thumb|[[Autochrome Lumière|Autochrome]] portrait by Georges Chevalier, 1921]]
[[File:Le Petit Journal illustré Doumer.jpg|thumb|Assassination of Paul Doumer (''[[Le Petit Journal (newspaper)|Le Petit Journal]]'', 15 May 1932).]]

==See also==
* [[List of finance ministers of France]]
* [[Politics of France]]
* [[Friends of the Natural History Museum Paris]], of which he was one of the founders and the second president, in office from 1922 to 1931.<ref>Yves Laissus, "Cent ans d'histoire", ''1907-2007 - Les Amis du Muséum'', centennial special, September 2007, supplement to the quarterly publication ''[[Friends of the Natural History Museum Paris|Les Amis du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle]]'', n° 230, June 2007, ISSN 1161-9104 {{in lang|fr}}.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=pe/004206}}

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{{Heads of state of France}}
{{Presidents of the National Assembly of France}}
{{Finance Ministers of France}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Doumer, Paul}}
[[Category:1857 births]]
[[Category:1932 deaths]]
[[Category:People murdered in 1932]]
[[Category:20th-century presidents of France]]
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[[Category:Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (France)]]
[[Category:Governors-general of French Indochina]]
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