![Leon Blum, Edouard Daladier, Maurice Thorez, and Roger Salengro on the reviewing stand of the Bastille Day parade, Place de la Nation, Paris] | International Center of Photography](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uNV8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8a9166f-b7f8-4c02-bad2-f0b42bbc64cc_700x513.jpeg "Leon Blum, Edouard Daladier, Maurice Thorez, and Roger Salengro on the reviewing stand of the Bastille Day parade, Place de la Nation, Paris] | International Center of Photography")
“When the republic is threatened, the word 'republican' changes its meaning. It takes on its old historic and heroic significance.” —Léon Blum, 1934
The choice of title for today’s newsletter is both slightly blasphemous and a little perverse: “divine surprise” was how Charles Maurras, anti-Dreyfusard arch-reacti…
