MacTutor
Paul Painlevé
Times obituary
PHILOSOPHER AND STATESMAN
M. Paul Painlevé, whose death is announced on another page, was a scientist and mathematician of European reputation, and was Prime Minister of France during the War and again after it. He was also a pioneer of French aviation.
M. Painlevé was born in Paris on December 5, 1863. He was the son of a lithographic draughtsman, and was brought up in the simple democratic atmosphere of French skilled artisan family life. At an early age, Paul showed himself to be a very precocious boy, and his master at the Ecole Primaire pushed forward his pupil, to use Painlevé's own words, "with the ardor of an apostle." After passing through the École Normale Supérieure with distinction, he was appointed a professor at Lille University and, five years later, at the Sorbonne in Paris. As a mathematician and philosopher, he was frequently invited to lecture in foreign universities. With pure mathematics, he combined a deep interest in practical science and in 1904 was appointed Professor of Mechanics and Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique.
It was at this period that aviation was first shown to be a practical possibility. Painlevé wrote a book on aeronautics that is recognized as a classic and a prophetic utterance. In 1908, Wilbur Wright went to France, and Painlevé, to whom the American pioneer owed much of the welcome and fame he received in Europe, was one of his first passengers. Already in 1907, he had made a remarkable and successful plea in the Chamber of Deputies for the development of a military aviation service. He was vice-president and virtual founder of the French Air League and had since been named the godfather of French aviation.
He entered Parliament in 1906 at the age of 43, when he was elected a Deputy for the capital. He was soon distinguished both by the excellent matter of his speeches and by the interest he displayed in military, naval, and aeronautical affairs, and served on several parliamentary committees concerned with the national forces. As chairman of the Navy Committee, he inaugurated the policy of concentrating the French Fleet in the Mediterranean, a step that was to have momentous consequences in the development of the Franco-British Entente and the history of the early days of the war. He was also largely responsible for the incorporation of the 20-year-old conscript.
He worked unceasingly to develop and perfect the national means of defence. When the war came, his zeal and efficiency were recognized in the number of important administrative posts to which he was appointed. He was president of committees dealing with munitions, aeronautics, and naval matters at a time when pre-war conceptions of national supply services were being revolutionized. In the autumn of 1915, he attained to Cabinet rank, on his appointment as Minister of Public Instruction and Inventions in the Government of M. Briand.
MINISTER OF WAR
On the reconstructon of this Cabinet, at the end of 1916, Painlevé, who had disagreed with his chief on matters affecting the conduct of the war, was not included in the new Ministry, but three months later, when Briand was succeeded by Ribot, he was given the important Ministry of War. General Nivelle, who had recently been appointed Commander-in-Chief, was convinced that a sudden powerful assault would break the German fine. Other highly placed generals disagreed. Painlevé held many an anxious Council of War, and, though finally acceding to the views of the Commander-in-Chief, who had enforced his opinion by a threat to resign, remained in a state of unpleasant apprehension. The attack was launched on April 16 and failed at once.
The question of intervening in the decisions of the high command was now brutally thrust upon Painlevé. An appalling casualty list had justified the fears of the skeptical generals. General Nivelle, still hopeful, wished to continue the offensive. Painlevé took a courageous course and forbade the continuation of what he deemed could only be useless slaughter. The best military opinion was with him. He appointed Pétain, with Foch as his Chief of Staff, to succeed Nivelle. The first care now was to nurse the Army, and it was not an easy task. Painlevé and Pétain worked with patience and tact. Grievances were examined and met, leave of absence was granted more frequently, and the ancient spirit of the French Army was soon restored.
The situation at the front, however, had been accompanied by a more serious de-featist campaign inside the country, and the French Socialists resented M. Ribot's refusal to grant them passports to go to the International Socialist Congress in Stockholm.
PRIME MINISTER
In September, Ribot fell, and Painlevé was called on as the only man who could at that moment command a majority in the Chamber. From September 7 to November 13, 1917, he was Prime Minister. The history of these two months was one of growing difficulties. He continued to refuse passports to the Socialists and soon lost their support. So rapidly did his majority dwindle that in mid-October, after a bare month in office, he contemplated resignation, but was persuaded by the President to remain.
Then, like a thunderbolt, came the Italian disaster at Caporetto, and attention was drawn for the moment from the quarrels at home. Painlevé acted with vigour. He at once dispatched French divisions, accompanied by British, to Italy, and, travelling with Mr. Lloyd George to Rapallo, took a leading part in the Allied Conference that set up the Supreme War Council, the first step towards unity of command. His return to Paris was a return to the wretched defeatist scandals. On November 13, the Chamber rejected his proposal to postpone their discussion until after the Inter-Allied Conference arranged for the end of the month in Paris, and he thereupon resigned to be succeeded by Clemenceau.
Painlevé played no part in the final stages of the war, nor in the re-settlement of Europe effected at the Paris Peace Conference. It was not until the election of November 1919 that he again came into prominence as a critic of the victorious Bloc National and, during the next four years, of the governments that derived their support from it. In the next general election, in May 1924, the Cartel des Gauches, a combination of Radicals, Socialist-Radicals, and Socialists, organized by M. Herriot and himself, obtained a small but workable majority. M. Poincaré gave place to M. Herriot as Prime Minister, while Painlevé was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies.
The President of the Republic, M. Millerand, the creator of the Bloc National, came into sharp conflict with the Cartel and, after a short struggle, he resigned. Painlevé was put forward as the official Cartel candidate for the Presidency. He was, however, defeated by M. Doumergue, who received 515 votes of the Moderate majority of the elective Assembly against Painlevé's 309. He therefore remained President of the Chamber until April 1925, when M. Herriot was defeated on a financial question, and he became Prime Minister for the second time, at the age of 62.
FINANCIAL REFORM
The most urgent task facing his government was the salvation of the franc: Painlevé caused a sensation by giving the Ministry of Finance to M. Caillaux, who, though possessed of a great reputation as a financier, had been discredited in the defeatist movement of 1917. He soon had, however, to throw his Finance Minister overboard. He went through the form of resignation and a reconstruction of the Cabinet, taking on himself the Ministry of Finance.
His new government was weak from the first. Serious disorders in Syria further discredited it. His schemes for financial reform, which fell disappointing short of what had been expected from a man of his ability, failed to meet with the approval of the Chamber, and on November 21, 1925, he had to resign. He was succeeded by Briand, in whose two successive Cabinets he resumed his old post of Minister of War. He was also Minister of War in Poincaré's Government ments from July 1926 to July 1929, and in the short-lived Steeg Government (December 1930) he was Minister of Air. M. Laval, the next Prime Minister, after an unsuccessful appeal to the Socialist-Radicals, was forced to turn to the Right for support, with the result that Painlevé was not offered a post.
In May 1932, Painlevé's name figured among the candidates for election to the Presidency of the Republic, but he withdrew before the vote. He became Minister of Air on M. Herriot's accession to power in June and held the same post under M. Paul-Boncour until his defeat in January of that year. During this period, he made a thorough study of the problems of international aerial disarmament and produced concrete proposals, the first summary of which he gave exclusively to The Times, for the suppression of military bombers, the creation of an international military air force for use against an aggressor, and the control of civil aviation.
His active political career came virtually to an end with the fall of the Paul-Boncour Cabinet in January of that year.
Painlevé had a naturally simple and unaffected manner, and was possessed of a singular charm that few persons, even among his opponents, were able to resist. His energy was untiring, and as a departmental chief he demanded much from his subordinates. If his political record had not won him fame, his great attainments in science would still have assured him an honorable place among the thinkers of Europe. He published many philosophical and scientific works, including "Leçons sur l'Intégration des Equations de la Mécanique," "Leçons sur le Frottement," "Leçons sur la Théorie Analytique des Equations Differentielles," and "Ce que Disent les Choses."
________________________________________________________
BURIAL OF M. PAINLEVÉ BRILLIANT PROCESSION
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT
PARIS, November 5
The body of M. Paul Painlevé was buried with national honours in the Panthéon yesterday, after lying in state for four days in the Echo Hall of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers.
A brilliant procession, which represented the world of science, of which he was a distinguished member, and the national services with which he had long been associated, followed M. Painlevé's coffin across the Seine from the Arts et Métiers and up the long slope of the Boulevard St. Michel. The procession was headed by mounted trumpeters of the Garde Républicaine, followed by detachments of troops of all arms. Three cars loaded with wreaths preceded the hearse, which was flanked by a guard of honor of airmen with arms reversed.
The funeral was followed by M. Painlevé's son, M. Jean Painlevé, his nephew, M. Pierre Appell, and other mourners, and the procession included, besides the members of the Government, the Presidents and officers of the Senate and Chamber, Marshal Pétain, Professor Piccard, representatives of the City of Paris and the Seine Department, and members of the French Academy, the Institut, and the Bar. The President of the Republic was represented by Colonel Garin.
On arrival at the Panthéon, the coffin was carried into the building and laid on a low catafalque under the central dome, while the pallbearers and officers with drawn swords formed a circle around it. There was no religious ceremony. M. Sarraut, the Prime Minister, delivered the funeral oration on behalf of the Government, and the ceremony closed with the playing of a symphony by Chausson.
PHILOSOPHER AND STATESMAN
M. Paul Painlevé, whose death is announced on another page, was a scientist and mathematician of European reputation, and was Prime Minister of France during the War and again after it. He was also a pioneer of French aviation.
M. Painlevé was born in Paris on December 5, 1863. He was the son of a lithographic draughtsman, and was brought up in the simple democratic atmosphere of French skilled artisan family life. At an early age, Paul showed himself to be a very precocious boy, and his master at the Ecole Primaire pushed forward his pupil, to use Painlevé's own words, "with the ardor of an apostle." After passing through the École Normale Supérieure with distinction, he was appointed a professor at Lille University and, five years later, at the Sorbonne in Paris. As a mathematician and philosopher, he was frequently invited to lecture in foreign universities. With pure mathematics, he combined a deep interest in practical science and in 1904 was appointed Professor of Mechanics and Engineering at the Ecole Polytechnique.
It was at this period that aviation was first shown to be a practical possibility. Painlevé wrote a book on aeronautics that is recognized as a classic and a prophetic utterance. In 1908, Wilbur Wright went to France, and Painlevé, to whom the American pioneer owed much of the welcome and fame he received in Europe, was one of his first passengers. Already in 1907, he had made a remarkable and successful plea in the Chamber of Deputies for the development of a military aviation service. He was vice-president and virtual founder of the French Air League and had since been named the godfather of French aviation.
He entered Parliament in 1906 at the age of 43, when he was elected a Deputy for the capital. He was soon distinguished both by the excellent matter of his speeches and by the interest he displayed in military, naval, and aeronautical affairs, and served on several parliamentary committees concerned with the national forces. As chairman of the Navy Committee, he inaugurated the policy of concentrating the French Fleet in the Mediterranean, a step that was to have momentous consequences in the development of the Franco-British Entente and the history of the early days of the war. He was also largely responsible for the incorporation of the 20-year-old conscript.
He worked unceasingly to develop and perfect the national means of defence. When the war came, his zeal and efficiency were recognized in the number of important administrative posts to which he was appointed. He was president of committees dealing with munitions, aeronautics, and naval matters at a time when pre-war conceptions of national supply services were being revolutionized. In the autumn of 1915, he attained to Cabinet rank, on his appointment as Minister of Public Instruction and Inventions in the Government of M. Briand.
MINISTER OF WAR
On the reconstructon of this Cabinet, at the end of 1916, Painlevé, who had disagreed with his chief on matters affecting the conduct of the war, was not included in the new Ministry, but three months later, when Briand was succeeded by Ribot, he was given the important Ministry of War. General Nivelle, who had recently been appointed Commander-in-Chief, was convinced that a sudden powerful assault would break the German fine. Other highly placed generals disagreed. Painlevé held many an anxious Council of War, and, though finally acceding to the views of the Commander-in-Chief, who had enforced his opinion by a threat to resign, remained in a state of unpleasant apprehension. The attack was launched on April 16 and failed at once.
The question of intervening in the decisions of the high command was now brutally thrust upon Painlevé. An appalling casualty list had justified the fears of the skeptical generals. General Nivelle, still hopeful, wished to continue the offensive. Painlevé took a courageous course and forbade the continuation of what he deemed could only be useless slaughter. The best military opinion was with him. He appointed Pétain, with Foch as his Chief of Staff, to succeed Nivelle. The first care now was to nurse the Army, and it was not an easy task. Painlevé and Pétain worked with patience and tact. Grievances were examined and met, leave of absence was granted more frequently, and the ancient spirit of the French Army was soon restored.
The situation at the front, however, had been accompanied by a more serious de-featist campaign inside the country, and the French Socialists resented M. Ribot's refusal to grant them passports to go to the International Socialist Congress in Stockholm.
PRIME MINISTER
In September, Ribot fell, and Painlevé was called on as the only man who could at that moment command a majority in the Chamber. From September 7 to November 13, 1917, he was Prime Minister. The history of these two months was one of growing difficulties. He continued to refuse passports to the Socialists and soon lost their support. So rapidly did his majority dwindle that in mid-October, after a bare month in office, he contemplated resignation, but was persuaded by the President to remain.
Then, like a thunderbolt, came the Italian disaster at Caporetto, and attention was drawn for the moment from the quarrels at home. Painlevé acted with vigour. He at once dispatched French divisions, accompanied by British, to Italy, and, travelling with Mr. Lloyd George to Rapallo, took a leading part in the Allied Conference that set up the Supreme War Council, the first step towards unity of command. His return to Paris was a return to the wretched defeatist scandals. On November 13, the Chamber rejected his proposal to postpone their discussion until after the Inter-Allied Conference arranged for the end of the month in Paris, and he thereupon resigned to be succeeded by Clemenceau.
Painlevé played no part in the final stages of the war, nor in the re-settlement of Europe effected at the Paris Peace Conference. It was not until the election of November 1919 that he again came into prominence as a critic of the victorious Bloc National and, during the next four years, of the governments that derived their support from it. In the next general election, in May 1924, the Cartel des Gauches, a combination of Radicals, Socialist-Radicals, and Socialists, organized by M. Herriot and himself, obtained a small but workable majority. M. Poincaré gave place to M. Herriot as Prime Minister, while Painlevé was elected President of the Chamber of Deputies.
The President of the Republic, M. Millerand, the creator of the Bloc National, came into sharp conflict with the Cartel and, after a short struggle, he resigned. Painlevé was put forward as the official Cartel candidate for the Presidency. He was, however, defeated by M. Doumergue, who received 515 votes of the Moderate majority of the elective Assembly against Painlevé's 309. He therefore remained President of the Chamber until April 1925, when M. Herriot was defeated on a financial question, and he became Prime Minister for the second time, at the age of 62.
FINANCIAL REFORM
The most urgent task facing his government was the salvation of the franc: Painlevé caused a sensation by giving the Ministry of Finance to M. Caillaux, who, though possessed of a great reputation as a financier, had been discredited in the defeatist movement of 1917. He soon had, however, to throw his Finance Minister overboard. He went through the form of resignation and a reconstruction of the Cabinet, taking on himself the Ministry of Finance.
His new government was weak from the first. Serious disorders in Syria further discredited it. His schemes for financial reform, which fell disappointing short of what had been expected from a man of his ability, failed to meet with the approval of the Chamber, and on November 21, 1925, he had to resign. He was succeeded by Briand, in whose two successive Cabinets he resumed his old post of Minister of War. He was also Minister of War in Poincaré's Government ments from July 1926 to July 1929, and in the short-lived Steeg Government (December 1930) he was Minister of Air. M. Laval, the next Prime Minister, after an unsuccessful appeal to the Socialist-Radicals, was forced to turn to the Right for support, with the result that Painlevé was not offered a post.
In May 1932, Painlevé's name figured among the candidates for election to the Presidency of the Republic, but he withdrew before the vote. He became Minister of Air on M. Herriot's accession to power in June and held the same post under M. Paul-Boncour until his defeat in January of that year. During this period, he made a thorough study of the problems of international aerial disarmament and produced concrete proposals, the first summary of which he gave exclusively to The Times, for the suppression of military bombers, the creation of an international military air force for use against an aggressor, and the control of civil aviation.
His active political career came virtually to an end with the fall of the Paul-Boncour Cabinet in January of that year.
Painlevé had a naturally simple and unaffected manner, and was possessed of a singular charm that few persons, even among his opponents, were able to resist. His energy was untiring, and as a departmental chief he demanded much from his subordinates. If his political record had not won him fame, his great attainments in science would still have assured him an honorable place among the thinkers of Europe. He published many philosophical and scientific works, including "Leçons sur l'Intégration des Equations de la Mécanique," "Leçons sur le Frottement," "Leçons sur la Théorie Analytique des Equations Differentielles," and "Ce que Disent les Choses."
________________________________________________________
BURIAL OF M. PAINLEVÉ BRILLIANT PROCESSION
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT
PARIS, November 5
The body of M. Paul Painlevé was buried with national honours in the Panthéon yesterday, after lying in state for four days in the Echo Hall of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers.
A brilliant procession, which represented the world of science, of which he was a distinguished member, and the national services with which he had long been associated, followed M. Painlevé's coffin across the Seine from the Arts et Métiers and up the long slope of the Boulevard St. Michel. The procession was headed by mounted trumpeters of the Garde Républicaine, followed by detachments of troops of all arms. Three cars loaded with wreaths preceded the hearse, which was flanked by a guard of honor of airmen with arms reversed.
The funeral was followed by M. Painlevé's son, M. Jean Painlevé, his nephew, M. Pierre Appell, and other mourners, and the procession included, besides the members of the Government, the Presidents and officers of the Senate and Chamber, Marshal Pétain, Professor Piccard, representatives of the City of Paris and the Seine Department, and members of the French Academy, the Institut, and the Bar. The President of the Republic was represented by Colonel Garin.
On arrival at the Panthéon, the coffin was carried into the building and laid on a low catafalque under the central dome, while the pallbearers and officers with drawn swords formed a circle around it. There was no religious ceremony. M. Sarraut, the Prime Minister, delivered the funeral oration on behalf of the Government, and the ceremony closed with the playing of a symphony by Chausson.
