A few months after the conclusion of hostilities, on March 21, 1919, Millerand was appointed commissioner general for Alsace Lorraine. The problem of reuniting with the mother-country two provinces which had been torn from her in 1871 was a most serious one. For so years they had been under an administration widely different from that of France. A period of transition, therefore, was essential, alike from the point of view of political expediency, administration, economics and finance. The first French officials sent to Strasbourg had not been equal to their task; and for this reason it was essential to appoint a statesman of eminent authority with power to act, who would keep in con stant touch with the government. This post was filled by Mille rand with complete success. In an important speech delivered in Paris on Nov. 15, 1919, on the eve of the elections, he outlined the policy of the coalition which, under the name of the bloc national, was returned to power.
On the resignation of Clemenceau, Jan. 18, 192o, Millerand was chosen to form a cabinet, and became both prime minister and minister for foreign affairs. His main activities were in regard to the application of the Treaty of Versailles; and in order to force Germany to fulfil her obligations, he ordered the provi sional occupation of Frankfort. He was present at the inter-allied conferences at San Remo and Spa, in April and July 192o, and in August of the same year he met Lloyd George at Hythe. The situation in regard to Poland, who had been attacked by the Bolsheviks, now became grave, and Millerand therefore sent to Warsaw a contingent of French officers under General Weygand. With this assistance the Poles gained a complete victory over the Bolsheviks. Millerand about this time officially recognised the anti-Bolshevik government of General Wrangel, who was soon after completely defeated. In France itself, in May 192o, he frustrated various attempts, especially by the railwaymen, to organise revolutionary strikes.
In September 192o Deschanel, president of the republic, was forced by ill-health to resign. Millerand was elected as his suc cessor, and out of 892 votes cast, no fewer than 695 were given in his favour. During his candidature, he made it known that if he were elected, he intended to exert a more powerful influence on the policy of the government than his predecessors had done. He refused to admit that his office of president forced him to comply with a tradition of which he disapproved, by remaining absolutely neutral in politics. He made it clear that he intended to watch closely the foreign policy of the government, and made no secret of his wish to strengthen the power of the president by a revision of the constitution which would modify the conditions of his election; and he put his ideas into practice, by frequently intervening in diplomatic negotiations. During the inter-allied
conference at Cannes in January 1922 he despatched a telegram expressing dissatisfaction at the conduct of affairs, which caused Briand to return to Paris, and, in fact, brought about his resigna tion. Working on the same lines, he summoned to the Elysee the prefects, or chief administrative officers of each department from all over France. In a powerful speech at Evreux in the spring of 1923 he declared that he would not agree to the re introduction of the scrutin d'arrondissement, and showed marked favour to the adherents of the bloc national, who had been in the majority in the Chamber since the elections of November 1919, and against whom the Radicals and Socialists were then carrying on a campaign of public meetings.
Millerand's conception of the role of president of the Republic brought him into collision with the Radical and Socialist majority, which, under the name of the cartel des gauches, was successful in the elections of May 11, 1924. He was violently attacked by the Radical Socialist press, which accused him of having exceeded his powers by intervening in the party struggle, and called for his resignation. Herriot, the leader of the cartel des gauches, when asked by Millerand to succeed Poincare as premier, announced that he would do so only on Millerand's resignation. The latter replied that he had been elected for seven years, and that the alteration of the party in power could in no way affect his consti tutional position nor abrogate his rights. But he made it clear that he had not the slightest intention of obstructing the new government, and that its leader could count on his impartiality.
Herriot, however, remained immovable ; and Millerand there fore invited the senator Francois-Marsal, who had been his min ister of finance in 192o, to form a cabinet. Francois-Marsal declared in the Chamber that the attacks on Millerand were contrary to the constitution, and that it was in order to uphold the latter that he had agreed to take office. His government, however, was immediately defeated; and Millerand tendered his resignation, protesting meanwhile against the illegality of the action taken against him. The attitude of the party in power dissatisfied the Senate, which, as a result, voted with the opposi tion and elected Doumergue as Millerand's successor, instead of Painleve, the candidate of the cartel des gauches.
In January 1927, at the senatorial elections in the department of the Seine, Millerand was defeated. Several months later he stood for a by-election in the department of the Orne, in Nor mandy. He was elected and resumed his place in the Senate.