Louis Loucheur was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 politician in the Third Republic

French Third Republic

The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...

, at first a member of the conservative Republican Federation

Republican Federation

The Republican Federation was the largest conservative party during the French Third Republic, gathering together the liberal Orleanists rallied to the Republic. Founded in November 1903, it rivalized with the more secular and centrist Alliance démocratique...

, then of the Democratic Republican Alliance

Democratic Republican Alliance

The Democratic Republican Alliance was a French political party created in 1901 by followers of Léon Gambetta, such as Raymond Poincaré who would be president of the Council in the 1920s...

 and of the Independent Radicals

Independent Radicals

The Independent Radicals were a center-right French political current during the French Third Republic, which refused the Radical-Socialist Party's alliance to the Left. It was formed after the fall of the first Cartel des gauches, in 1926. Starting in 1928, the group of the Independent Radicals...

.

Life

Coming from a background in the arms industry

Arms industry

The arms industry is a global industry and business which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology and equipment. It comprises government and commercial industry involved in research, development, production, and service of military material, equipment and facilities...

, Loucheur became Minister of Munitions in September 1917. He replaced Albert Thomas

Albert Thomas (minister)

Albert Thomas was a prominent French Socialist and the first Minister of Armament for the French Third Republic during World War I. Following the Treaty of Versailles, he was nominated as the first Director General of the International Labour Office, a position he held until his death in 1932.-...

 and served as munitions minister until November 26, 1918 when he became Minister of Industrial Re-construction where he remained until January 20, 1920.

He was the principal economic advisor for Georges Clemenceau

Georges Clemenceau

Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...

 at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. The product of this conference was the controversial Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

.

Loucheur was briefly Minister of Commerce, Industry, Posts, and Telegraphs under Raymond Poincaré

Raymond Poincaré

Raymond Poincaré was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920. Poincaré was a conservative leader primarily committed to political and social stability...

 in 1924.

He also served as Minister of Finance in Aristide Briand

Aristide Briand

Aristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...

's seventh Government during 1925 and 1926.

In Édouard Herriot

Édouard Herriot

Édouard Marie Herriot was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and for many years as President of the Chamber of Deputies....

's Second Ministry Loucheur served as Minister of Commerce and Industry and from June 1928 to February 1930.. He then served again under Poincaré as Minister of Labour, Hygiene, Welfare Work, and Social Security Provisions.