Blum, Léon

(1872–1950)

   French statesman and three times premier of France. The son of a wealthy Jewish merchant, Blum was propelled into politics by the Dreyfus Affair of 1894 and in 1899 he joined the Socialist Party. Elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1919, he came to power at the head of a left-wing, anti-fascist coalition, the Front Populaire, in 1936 - the first socialist and first Jew to head a French government. The problems facing France at this period - the growing threat of the Axis alignment, the war in Spain, economic malaise, a pro-German right wing - were intractable, and combined to bring about Blum’s defeat in the following year. Nor was he any more successful during his next brief period in office, in 1938, during the Austrian crisis. Blum survived a Nazi concentration camp during the war, and for a month in 1946 was briefly premier in a coalition government. He subsequently helped to negotiate US aid to reconstruct France. At that time he used his influence in Paris on behalf of the Zionist movement, particularly in lobbying for the United Nations partition plan of 1947.

   Blum was a man of dignity and culture, distinguished in the fields of law and letters, and internationally respected as a statesman. His inability to translate his political programme into practical achievement was due to the chaotic French political and economic scene before World War II.