Daladier, Édouard

Daladier, Édouard (1884-1970), French statesman, born at Carpentras, in the Vaucluse Department, and educated at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He taught history until 1919, when he was elected as a Radical-Socialist to the Chamber of Deputies for the Vaucluse. Daladier soon gained national attention, and after 1924 he held several different Cabinet posts, including that of Minister of War from 1932 to 1934. In January 1933 he succeeded Joseph Paul-Boncour as Premier. Daladier's government fell in October 1933. He formed his second ministry in January 1934, but this government lasted only 11 days. Daladier was again Premier from 1938 to 1940. It was his government that approved the Munich Pact of September 1938 and that declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. In March 1940 he was replaced as Premier by Paul Reynaud, and soon afterwards he was arrested by the pro-German Vichy government. His trial (1942) was suspended with no verdict. From March 1943 to April 1945 he was interned first in France and later in a prison camp in Germany. In 1946, he was elected to the new Constituent Assembly, and later in the same year he was elected to the National Assembly where he served until 1958.