Joseph Caillaux

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Joseph-Marie-Auguste Caillaux (March 30, 1863 - November 21/22, 1944) was a major French politician of the Third Republic. The leader of the Radicals, he favored a policy of conciliation with Germany during his premiership from 1911 to 1912, which led to the maintenance of the peace during the Second Moroccan Crisis of 1911.

In 1914 he resigned as Minister of Finance after his wife Henriette shot Gaston Calmette, the editor of Le Figaro newspaper when he threatened to print a letter written by Caillaux that was political dynamite. She was acquitted, however, and Caillaux became the leader of a peace party in the Assembly during World War I. This led to his arrest and trial for treason in 1918. Again rehabilitated after the war, Caillaux served at various times in the left wing governments of the 1920s.

Joseph Caillaux is interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

[edit] Caillaux's Ministry, 2 July 1911 - 14 January 1912

Joseph Caillaux - President of the Council and Minister of the Interior and Worship
Justin de Selves - Minister of Foreign Affairs
Adolphe Messimy - Minister of War
Louis-Lucien Klotz - Minister of Finance
René Renoult - Minister of Labour and Social Security Provisions
Jean Cruppi - Minister of Justice
Théophile Delcassé - Minister of Marine
Théodore Steeg - Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts
Jules Pams - Minister of Agriculture
Albert Lebrun - Minister of Colonies
Victor Augagneur - Minister of Public Works, Posts, and Telegraphs
Maurice Couyba - Minister of Commerce and Industry