Emile Loubet

Émile Loubet was elected President of the Third Republic. His presidency was dominated by the resolution of the Dreyfus Affair and the separation of church and state.

Loubet granted a presidential pardon to Alfred Dreyfus, ending the legal case but not the controversy. The pardon was a step toward reconciliation.

Loubet signed the Law on Associations, which regulated religious congregations and required state authorization for their existence. This law was a precursor to the separation of church and state.

Loubet's government signed the Entente Cordiale with Britain, resolving colonial disputes in Africa and establishing a diplomatic understanding that later became a military alliance.

Loubet oversaw the passage of the 1905 law on the separation of churches and the state, which ended state funding of religious institutions and established French la