As President he took the side of those who sought to reconsider the conviction of Captain Dreyfus. This his administration succeeded in doing although not without some violence to his person by an anti-Dreyfusard who struck him with a cane. Dreyfus's ten year sentence was remitted and Dreyfus was released. The Paris Exhibition occurred in 1900, helped to form an Entente with Great Britain after friction between the two countries over the Dreyfus affair and the Boer War.
After he retired from politics in 1906, he lived another 23 years, passing away in 1929 at age 90.