Léon Blum

André Léon Blum (1872 to 1950) was a French socialist politician who served three times as Prime Minister of France. He was a disciple of the socialist leader Jean Jaurès and became his successor after Jaurès was assassinated in 1914. As prime minister of the left-wing Popular Front government in 1936 and 1937 he introduced a series of major economic and social reforms, and he declared French neutrality in the Spanish Civil War to keep the conflict from spilling into France. Out of office from 1938 he denounced the appeasement of Germany. After Germany defeated France in 1940 he became a staunch opponent of Vichy France, was tried but never judged by its government on charges of treason, and was imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp. After the war he resumed a transitional leadership role in French politics and helped bring about the Fourth Republic, until his death in 1950.