Georges Clemenceau

Clemenceau was born in Mouilleron-en-Pareds[?], in the département of Vendée, in France.

In his early years in Paris, he was a political activist, publishing what was seen by the then government of Emperor Napoleon III as radical. Clemenceau left for the United States, where he spent four years from 1865 to 1869). He was impressed by the freedom of discussion and expression he witnessed, which was unknown in France during the reign of Napoleon III, and he had great admiration for the politicians who were forging American democracy. He taught in a girls' school in Stamford[?], Connecticut and married one of his pupils, Mary Plummer, in 1869. Three children were born of the marriage, but the couple separated after seven years.

Back in France, on January 13, 1898, Clemenceau, as owner and editor of the Paris daily, L'Aurore, published Emile Zola's "J'accuse[?]" on the front page of his paper. Clemenceau decided that the controversial story that would become known as the Dreyfus Affair, would be in the form of an open letter to the President, Félix Faure.

Clemenceau was mayor of Montmartre and would go on to become a dominant figure in the French Third Republic as the leader of the Parti Radical[?]. Later he served as the forceful wartime premier of France from 1917 to 1920. Nicknamed Le Tigre (The Tiger) and Le Père la Victoire (The Father Victory) he was a major contributor to the Allied victory in World War I and as a framer of the postwar Treaty of Versailles, he opposed leniency toward Germany after WW I.

He was quoted as saying: In order to act, you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking.

Clemenceau was an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the Third French Republic. Embittered by his defeat, he dismissed the office as being 'as superfluous as a prostate gland'. He died in Paris and was buried in Le Colombier[?], Vendée, Mouchamps[?].