Henry Chéron

Henry Frédéric Chéron (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃ʁi fʁedeʁik ʃeʁɔ̃]; 11 May 1867 – 14 April 1936) was a French lawyer and politician who became active in local politics in the Calvados department of Normandy while still a young man, and always maintained his roots in Normandy. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies and then to the Senate, and held various ministerial posts between 1913 and 1934. He generally held moderately conservative views, believed in fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets, and felt strongly that agriculture was the foundation of France's prosperity.

Henry Frédéric Chéron was born on 11 May 1867 at Lisieux, Calvados. His father, Isidore-Frédéric Chéron (born in 1843), was a sales representative. His mother was Felicie Duval (1844–1912). Henry Chéron worked as a technician in a pharmacy to earn money to attend law school. On 8 July 1889 he married Marie-Louise Fauguet, daughter of a large landowner of Calvados. They had two sons. Henry Chéron obtained a degree in law in 1891.

Chéron was mayor of Lisieux, Calvados from 1894 to 1936, and General Councillor for the canton of Lisieux from 1901 to 1936. He was a moderate conservative. He was an affable and approachable leader. He was one of the first mayors in Normandy to apply the restrictions to drinking establishments authorized by the law of 1880. He opened a municipal abattoir in order to reduce the cost of meat to the people of Lisieux. Chéron was president of the general council of Calvados from 1911 to 1936. Chéron ran for election as deputy for Calvados on four occasions in 1893, 1896, 1898 and 1902, but although his views were moderate he was not sufficiently conservative for the electorate.

Chéron ran successfully for election as deputy for the 1st district of Caen on 6 May 1906. He was reelected as deputy on 24 April 1910. Chéron was appointed Under-Secretary of State for War on 25 October 1906 in the cabinet of Georges Clemenceau. He was popular for his attempts to improve the living conditions of the troops. In the first cabinet of Aristide Briand, formed on 24 July 1909, he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Navy. He undertook an administrative reorganization, and tried to mediate an end to a strike of enlisted seamen.

On 2 November 1910 the cabinet was dissolved and Chéron left the government. He joined the radical left, and presented five bills on social issues. He was chosen to report on many financial projects, and to present the general report on the budget in 1911, 1912 and 1913. On 23 January 1913 he presented and defended a vote of confidence in the Briand government. Chéron was an honorary president of the French consultative committee to the first International Eugenics Conference in London in 1912.

On 22 March 1913 Louis Barthou appointed Chéron Minister of Labor and Social Security (Ministre du Travail et de la Prévoyance sociale). Chéron appointed a commission to prepare a law on regulating savings companies to protect small savers. He also tried to apply the law on workers' pensions. He left office when the Barthou cabinet fell on 9 December 1913.

Chéron was elected to the Senate on 20 July 1913. He was reelected to the Senate on 9 January 1921 and on 20 October 1929. He remained a Senator until his death in 1936. He was actively interested in social issues, but was primarily involved in financial issues. During World War I (1914–18) he worked hard for the war effort. He submitted many legal texts on ways to ensure that as many men as possible were available to the army. On 23 December 1916 he led the Senate to adopt a motion letting the Briand government place the entire war effort under one organization. He also submitted proposals to reduce the social costs of the war, on topics such as rents, leases and taxation of food. One of his proposals significantly extended the role of trade unions.

After the war there was a widespread feeling that France must produce more children to make up for the wartime losses. A law against propaganda for abortion and contraception was proposed in January 1919. It included an article that required doctors to give information about abortion care providers even if they had obtained the information under professional secrecy. As a lawyer, Chéron considered that principle of confidentiality was "the safeguard of his profession." He hastened to clarify that confidentiality was "enacted not in the interests of a profession, but in that of the public order and individual security". He granted that women made all decisions about family planning, and said that propaganda for abortion and contraception "consists in saying to French women: 'You will no longer have children.'" However, Chéron said Malthusian propaganda was "against the very existence of the country ... this is a question of life or death for France."