Armand Fallières, from Mézin to the Élysée Palace (1841–1932)
Armand Fallières, a native of the region, enjoyed an illustrious political career that took him to the head of the French Republic at the beginning ofthe 20thcentury. Despite his political social life, he remained attached to his native Gascony throughout his life.
Born in 1841 in Mézin in a house that has since been demolished, which stood next to the Church of Saint John the Baptist, Armand Fallières came from a modest background, but this did not prevent him from excelling at school. He attended school and college in Mézin until the age of 13 and continued his studies at a high school in Angoulême. He then left to study law in Paris and obtained his law degree in Toulouse in 1866.
He practiced his profession in Nérac in 1867, but was quickly drawn to politics and the Republican movement, which led him to take on local responsibilities: he became a municipal councilor in 1868, and the fall of the Second Empire in 1871 even enabled him to win the mayoralty of Nérac under the Republican banner. He moved the town hall to its current location and paved the way for Jules Ferry and his primary school laws of 1881-1882 by passing a vote to reestablish upper primary school and make it free of charge.
In 1874, he became President of the Lot-et-Garonne General Council. He then took steps to develop the departmental rail network by extending the Nérac-Mézin line to Mont-de-Marsan, opening up Albret to the Landes region.
He began to exercise national responsibilities when he was appointed deputy in 1876, then headed numerous ministries between 1880 and 1890: he was successively Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Interior, Justice, and Public Instruction, where he reformed secondary education by placing greater emphasis on science and foreign languages.
From senator in 1890, he became President of the Senate in 1899, and the highest office was not far off... which he achieved in 1906 when he became President of the Republic. Armand Fallières then traveled to Mézin, his hometown, where a grand celebration was held in his honor, and a triumphal arch made entirely of cork was even erected.
As the presidents of theThird Republic were institutionally confined to representative functions, leaving power to the President of the Council (the current Prime Minister) and Parliament, Armand Fallières showed little involvement in the actions of ministers, which made him the target of numerous caricatures and taunts.
His physical characteristics and Gascon origins were a source of inspiration for these artists, who described him as a weak president, lacking in energy and stature, and gave him the nickname "soliveau" (stump).
Despite everything, Armand Fallières' seven-year term proved to be quite eventful. It was marked in particular by the search for allies in the context of the geopolitical tensions that preceded the First World War. To this end, Fallières worked to strengthen the Triple Entente by meeting with Edward VII of England and Tsar Nicholas II during diplomatic trips.
During his presidency, Fallières took historic measures: he put an end to the Dreyfus Affair in 1906, had Emile Zola's ashes interred in the Panthéon in 1908, opposed the death penalty by pardoning those who had been sentenced to death, and introduced voting booths in 1912 to ensure secret ballots. Gascony is also grateful to him for having both applied a decree in 1909 defining the area and the three regions of Armagnac (Bas-Armagnac, Haut-Armagnac, Ténarèze) and for having introduced this brandy, the oldest in France, to the Elysée Palace.
At the end of his seven-year term in 1913, Armand Fallières retired to his estate in Loupillon, a family vineyard near Mézin, whose vines and fruit he often praised at the Élysée Palace. He lived there until his death in 1932.
In 1938, Mézin honored the memory of its most illustrious figure by unveiling a bronze statue representing the former President of the Republic. This monument drew the wrath of the Vichy government, which had it destroyed in 1942. It was replaced by a bust in 1957.
