Joseph Reinach Biography

Joseph Reinach

(Paris, 1856-1921) French journalist.He started in the journalistic profession through the Parisian newspaper La République Française , where from 1877 he began to publish interesting political analyzes that placed him at the epicenter of French public life in the last quarter of the century XIX.He acquired such importance in such a short space of time that in 1881, following the proclamation in France of the Third Republic, President León Gambetta called him to his side to place all his trust in him and appoint him head of his secretariat.

At only thirty years old (1886), he became editor-in-chief of La République Française .Once this position was released, he directed a noisy journalistic campaign from the pages of the newspaper against the nationalist and populist politics of Georges Boulanger (the " General Revanche ").With this and other similar matters of maximum national interest, Joseph Reinach continued to rise in French public life and, in 1889, he was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies by the Republican-Liberal party.He remained in his seat for almost a decade (1889-1898), and returned again to the House at the beginning of the 20th century (1906-1914).

During his first term as deputy, much of his Political and journalistic activities were devoted to the case of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, of whom Joseph Reinach became one of the greatest and most energetic defenders.So much so, that in his capacity as an essayist he left printed the best and most complete account of this famous process that shook the foundations of French public life at the end of the 19th century: History of the Dreyfus case (1901-04), published in four volumes.

The rest of the literary production is completed with several books focused on the history and the characters that he got to know so well; Among them, it is worth remembering the titled Gambetta orateur ( Gambetta orator , 1884), Le ministère Clémenceau ( The ministry of Cleménceau , 1885) and Les petites catilinaires ( The small catilinaries , 1889), an extremely interesting collection, in three volumes, of his anti-Catalan articles that appeared in the French press.