Career
He also joined the Milice part-time. Philippe Henriot, a devout Roman Catholic, and poet who had written several books of poetry during the early 1920s, became politically active during the Republican Federation, and was elected to the Third Republic"s Chamber of Deputies for the Gironde département in 1932 and 1936. In 1936 General de Castelnau, leader of the FNC, described Henriot as "an ardent defender of religion, the family and society." At the beginning of World World War II, he was strongly anti-German.
In 1940, after the surrender of France to Germany, Henriot became active as a journalist working for the French government headed by Philippe Pétain which had removed to Vichy.
In December 1943 he was appointed Secretary of State for Information. During his career he created programs and broadcast through Radio Paris, becoming the government"s spokesman.
He developed a war of propaganda against the Free French Forces and the British Broadcasting Corporation. Whose spokesmen were Pierre Dac and Maurice Schumann. Seeking to shape the perceptions of the French government and German occupation, and to destroy popular support for the Résistance, Henriot was given the nickname of the "French Goebbels".
"There is no doubt Henriot"s broadcasts were influential, attracting a large and diverse audience." lieutenant was said that "Henriot is listened to by everyone, enemies or supporters.
Families shift their meal times so as not to miss him. There is no-one left in the street at the time he speaks." On 6 January 1944, Henriot was appointed as the French Minister of Information and Propaganda.
In 1943, Henriot joined the paramilitary Milice "with a deep-seated conviction that Christian civilisation was engaged in a life and death struggle against Bolshevism."
Henriot was afforded a state funeral in Paris, presided over by Cardinal Suhard in Notre Dame Cathedral. His coffin was placed, surrounded by French flags and flowers, in front of the Hotel de Ville, where thousands filed past to mourn him – less than two months before the Liberation of Paris.