President who weathered the Boulanger crisis and the Panama scandal and was assassinated by an anarchist in Lyon
Born in Limoges in 1837, the son of the statesman Hippolyte Carnot and grandson of Lazare Carnot of the revolutionary Committee of Public Safety, he was a civil engineer. In 1870 the Government of National Defence charged him with organising resistance in Normandy; after serving as a prefect he was elected to the National Assembly for the Côte-d'Or, joining the Gauche républicaine. In the 1880s he served as minister of public works and of finance. When Grévy fell in December 1887, his reputation for integrity won him the presidency. His term saw the threat of General Boulanger, the centenary of the Revolution and the Paris Exhibition of 1889, and the Panama scandal of 1892, and he favoured the Franco-Russian Alliance. On 24 June 1894 he was stabbed in Lyon by the Italian anarchist Caserio and died the next day, the first president to die in office.
Also known as: Marie François Sadi Carnot
Activities and affiliations
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1871–1887
France state institutionsDeputy for the Côte-d'Or
Legislature and state representation -
1880–1886
France state institutionsMinister of Public Works and of Finance
Government and administration -
1887–1894
France state institutionsPresident of the RepublicHeads of state and government of FranceMain
Government and administration
Career Timeline
- 1871.01–02Prefect of the Seine-Inférieure
- 1871.02–1887.12.03Deputy for the Côte-d'Or in the National Assembly and the Chamber
- 1880.09–1886.12Minister of Public Works, then of Finance
- 1887.12.03–1894.06.25President of the Republic