Pierre Baudin

Born August 21, 1863 in Nantua (Ain), died July 30, 1917 in Paris.

Member of Parliament for the Seine from 1898 to 1900.

Member of Parliament for the Ain from 1900 to 1909.

Senator for the Ain from 1909 to 1917.

Minister of Public Works from June 22, 1899 to June 4, 1902.

Minister of the Navy from 21 January 1913 to 9 December 1913.

Nephew of the deputy J.-B. Baudin who died on the barricades during the coup d'état of December 2, 1851, Pierre Baudin was born, like his uncle, in Nantua in the Ain.

After brilliant law studies, he enrolled at the Paris bar. On May 4, 1890, he was elected to the city council where he represented the Quinze-Vingt district. He was very active in the district: he was especially involved in financial matters and for three years he was general rapporteur for the city budget. In 1893, he invited the people of Paris not to join in the celebrations of July 14 to protest against the actions of the police in the Latin Quarter and against the closure of the Bourse du Travail ordered by the government on May 1. He became vice-president of the city council in 1895, then the following year, at the age of 33, president of this Assembly. He fought vigorously in favor of municipal autonomy and what he called the "rights of Paris". The inauguration of the Rue de Réaumur by the President of the Republic gave him the opportunity to assert, in a spectacular gesture, the pre-eminence of those elected by universal suffrage over the representatives of the Administration: during the ceremony, in fact, he took precedence over the Prefect of Police and the Prefect of the Seine, setting a precedent that would become the rule. On October 7, 1896, he received the Tsar and Empress of Russia at the City Hall.

He ran in the general legislative elections of May 22, 1898, in the first constituency of the 11th arrondissement, under the patronage of the Republican Committee of Folie-Méricourt. He was elected deputy in the second ballot by 5,710 votes out of 9,020 voters against 3,143 votes for Mr. Faberot, the outgoing deputy.

A member of the Labor, Budget, and Press Commissions, he was rapporteur for the 1899 Justice (Prison Services) Budget and for the project relating to working conditions in public works contracts.

On June 22, 1899, Waldeck-Rousseau, who formed his government, entrusted him with the Ministry of Public Works, which he kept for nearly three years, until June 4, 1902. He took part in the organization of the 1900 Universal Exhibition and drew up a complete program of major works intended, following Freycinet's plan, to provide France with a network of large canals, maritime equipment and modern ports. The lack of financial resources meant that only partial implementation was possible, but Pierre Baudin's appointment as head of the Ministry of Public Works had a profound effect on this administration.

Wishing to represent his native department, he gave up his mandate as deputy for Paris and sought the votes of his compatriots in a by-election held on July 1, 1900 in the Belley constituency to replace Mr. Giguet, who had become a senator. He was elected deputy for Ain by 11,680 votes out of 16,859 voters, and in the general elections of April 27, 1902, his compatriots renewed their confidence in him by granting him 12,957 votes out of 19,111 voters against 5,479 votes for Mr. Brillat-Savarin, in the first ballot.

A member of the Insurance and Social Security Commission and the Budget Commission, he presents a large number of reports on a wide range of subjects: convention determining the participation of the State and Algeria in the charges of the railways, participation of France in the exhibitions of Liege and Milan, installation of the National Printing Office in rue de la Convention, transfer of the Ministry of Colonies from the Pavillon de Flore to rue Oudinot, rights on sugar and brandy, modification of patents and contributions on movable assets, participation of delegates for the safety of miners in the pension and rescue funds, modernization of national equipment (canals and bridges), pension fund of press associations, etc.. The discussion of the Budgets of 1905 and 1906, for which he was general rapporteur, gave him the opportunity to intervene on many occasions.

Re-elected in the general elections of May 6, 1906 by 11,590 votes, out of 18,449 voters against 4,475 for Mr. Brillat-Savarin, he was a member of the Public Works, Navy and Budget Commissions. He tabled a bill concerning waterworks and two motions for resolutions, one relating to the inventory of forest estates, the other calling for a study of the continuous navigation of the Rhone between Geneva and Lyon. Taking part in the discussion of the income tax project, he supported an amendment to exempt the income of mutual aid societies (1908). Struck by the difficulties raised by the application of the rules of unity and annuality to the State's industrial companies, it is making a brilliant campaign in favor of specialization and autonomy of industrial budgets. During the 1908 collective vote, he demanded the improvement of access roads to the Simplon tunnel and, during the 1909 budget review, he invited the government to modernize the Gobelins factory. In the discussion of the project concerning the cadres and manpower of the army (1908), he insisted on the urgent need to create new artillery regiments and to exercise effective control over military spending.

Having become Senator of the Ain on January 3, 1909, replacing Mr. Pochon, who died on September 13, 1908, he intervened again in favor of the development of artillery when the project came up for discussion in the High Assembly. He was rapporteur for the Foreign Affairs Budget for 1910.

Re-elected Senator on January 7, 1912, he drew up many important reports, notably on the project to approve the convention of November 4, 1911 between France and Germany concerning the delimitation of their respective possessions in Equatorial Africa; on the project to approve the treaty concluded between France and Morocco on March 30, 1912 for the organization of the French protectorate in the Cherifian Empire ; on the budgetary collectives of 1911 and 1912; on the Budget of Public Instruction of 1912; on the creation of a Forensic Medical Institute in Paris; on the organization of military aeronautics, the organization of the reserves of the active army and the project relating to the cadres and manpower of the infantry.

On January 21, 1913, Briand, who formed his third cabinet, called him to the Ministry of the Navy. He kept this portfolio under Briand's fourth cabinet (18 February - 22 March 1913) and under the Barthou cabinet (22 March - 9 December 1913).

While Barthou passed the law that extended the duration of military service to three years and continued the reorganization of the army, he worked to complete the navy's cadres and to speed up naval construction, particularly of submarines.

Having resumed his place as a senator after the resignation of the Barthou cabinet, he intervened several times in the discussion of the 1914 Navy Budget. In March 1915, the government entrusted him with a propaganda mission in South America: he returned to the Argentine Republic, where he had represented France during the celebrations for the centenary of independence in 1913.

He died of a serious illness in Paris during his term of office on July 30, 1917, at the age of 54. President Antonin Dubost, in the eulogy he delivered in the Senate gallery, had to say, paying tribute to this great worker: ***"there was no question of national interest that he had not addressed in his writings and speeches, always by the broad side where the connection with the great world problems felt. His pen, like his eloquence and his person, was sober and nervous."***