He served in the Légion d'honneur during the World War, and served as Georges Clemenceau's lieutenant during the Paris Peace Conference, 1919 and as Commissioner for Franco-American War Cooperation. He was minister of the liberated regions of Alsace and Lorraine after the war.
Though generally considered a conservative, on becoming prime minister in 1929, he introduced a program of welfare measures, including public works, social insurance, and free secondary schooling, as well as encouraging modern techniques in industry. His later political activity was largely concerned with containing and responding to German expansion.
See also:
The Truth About The Treaty, written 1921, to defend the French negotiators from claims that they had been too lenient on the Germans.
| Preceded by: Aristide Briand 1929 | Prime Ministers of France 1929-1930 | Followed by: Camille Chautemps 1930 |
| Preceded by: Camille Chautemps 1930 | Prime Ministers of France 1930 | Followed by: Théodore Steeg 1930-1931 |
| Preceded by: Pierre Laval 1931-1932 | Prime Ministers of France 1932 | Followed by: Edouard Herriot 1932 |