(1841-1929) French politician and journalist (prominent in the defense of Alfred Dreyfus). He was prime minister 1906–09 and 1917–20. After World War I he presided over the peace conference in Paris that drew up the Treaty of Versailles, but failed to secure for France the Rhine as a frontier.
Clemenceau was mayor of Montmartre, Paris, in the war of 1870, and 1871 was elected a member of the National Assembly at Bordeaux. He was elected a deputy 1876 after the formation of the Third Republic. An extreme radical, he soon earned the nickname of “the Tiger” on account of his ferocious attacks on politicians whom he disliked. He lost his seat 1893 and spent the next ten years in journalism. In 1902 he was elected senator for the Var, and was soon one of the most powerful politicians in France. When he became prime minister for the second time 1917, he made the decisive appointment of Marshal Foch as supreme commander.