Waldeck-Rousseau, val dek'roo so', PIERRE MARIE ERNEST (1846-1904), a French statesman. he served in the Chamber of Deputies and for several terms in the cabinet, and in 1894 he was elected to the Senate. In 1895 he was a candidate for the presidency of France. In 1899 he became premier, with the portfolio of the interior, and his administration was noteworthy for several measures, among them the proclamation of an amnesty law for all connected with the Dreyfus case, and the curtailment of the powers of religious associations by the Association Bill of 1901. Waldeck-Rousseau resigned his office in 1902.