Gustave Bouvet

Gustave Charles Bouvet was a French anarchist who unsuccessfully tried to assassinate Alexandre Millerand, the President of France.

Bouvet was raised by priests in Antwerp, and returned at 14 years of age to Paris to live with his parents. He served as the secretary for the Fédération Anarchiste and was founder of the Journal des Jeunesses Communistes, of which he became secretary and director. In 1921, he was sentenced to a year in prison for publishing anarchist propaganda. In April 1922, Bouvet was released from prison and took up residence on the Rue des Panoyaux.

On 14 July, 1922, Bouvet made an attempt to assassinate President Millerand. Millerand and other dignitaries were traveling in a procession of three carriages along the Champs-Élysées after returning from a Bastille Day military review. When the procession reached the corner of the Avenue Marigny at about 11:05, Bouvet drew a revolver from his pocket and fired two shots at the second car, which Bouvet mistakenly believed the President was riding in. A police cyclist who was accompanying the procession hurled his bicycle at Bouvet, and he was immediately attacked by the crowd.

Bouvet was arrested and taken to a nearby police station. He was found to be carrying two revolvers and 25 cartridges in his pockets. Upon interrogation, he declared that he meant to fire upon the President as a demonstration to draw attention to the situation of the proletariat. Bouvet was 23 years old at the time of the attempted assassination.

References

• "Attempt on French President", The Scotsman (15 July, 1922)
• "Anarchist Tries to Kill Millerand", The New York Times (15 July, 1922)