Willem Drees

Willem Drees Sr. (About this soundDutch pronunciation (help·info); 5 July 1886 – 14 May 1988) was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and historian who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 7 August 1948 to 22 December 1958.[1]

Drees worked as an accountant and bank teller for the Twentsche Bank from 1904 until 1906 and as a stenographer for the States General of the Netherlands from 1907 until 1919. Drees became a member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) in 1904 and was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 1933, he served in the House of Representatives from 9 May 1933 until 25 June 1945. Drees was selected as Parliamentary leader of the Social Democratic Workers' Party in the House of Representatives on 5 September 1939 following the appointed of Willem Albarda as Minister of Water Management in the Cabinet De Geer II. After Willem Albarda and the rest of the cabinet fled to London following the German invasion, Drees succeeded him as Leader of the Social Democratic Workers' Party on 14 May 1940. In October 1940 Drees was taken hostage in Buchenwald concentration camp for resisting orders given by German occupiers but was freed one year later.

Following the end of World War II, Queen Wilhelmina ordered the formation of a Cabinet of National unity to serve as a caretaker government to reorganize the state and make preparations for the election of 1946, Drees was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs, the Cabinet Schermerhorn–Drees took office on 25 June 1945. On 9 February 1946 the Labour Party was formed with Drees selected as the first Leader of the Labour Party. For the election of 1946 Drees served as one of the Lijsttrekkers (top candidates). The Labour Party made small win, gaining 6 seats and became the second largest party and now had 29 seats in the House of Representatives. Following a formation period a coalition agreement with the Catholic People's Party (KVP) was made which resulted in the formation of the Cabinet Beel I with Drees continuing as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs, taking office on 3 July 1946. For the election of 1948 Drees served again as one of the Lijsttrekkers. The Labour Party sufferd a small lose, losing 2 seats but retained its place as the second largest party and now had 27 seats in the House of Representatives. The following cabinet formation resulted in a continuing coalition agreement with the Catholic People's Party which formed the Cabinet Drees–Van Schaik, with Drees becoming Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of General Affairs on 7 August 1948.

For the elections of 1952 Drees served as the only Lijsttrekker. The Labour Party made small win, gaining 3 seats and became for the first time largest party and now had 30 seats in the House of Representatives. Following a formation period a coalition agreement with the Catholic People's Party (KVP), Christian Historical Union (CHU) and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) was made which resulted in the formation of the Cabinet Drees I, with Drees continuing as Prime Minister and Minister of General Affairs, taking office on 15 March 1951. The Cabinet Drees I fell one year into its term on 25 June 1952 and a new coalition agreement was made with the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) replacing the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, the Cabinet Drees II took office on 2 September 1952. For the elections of 1956 Drees served for a fourth and final time as Lijsttrekker. The Labour Party won the election, gaining 20 seats and remained the largest party and now had 50 seats in the House of Representatives. The following cabinet formation resulted in a continuing coalition agreement with the Catholic People's Party, Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Christian Historical Union to form a Cabinet Drees III with Drees continuing as Prime Minister and Minister of General Affairs, taking office on 13 October 1956. The Cabinet Drees III fell on 11 December 1958 and shortly after that Drees announced his retirement from national politics and that he would not stand for the election of 1959. He remained as Prime Minister until the Cabinet Beel II was installed on 22 December 1958 with Drees granted the honorary title of Minister of State on his last day in office.

Drees most notably led the country through the North Sea flood of 1953 and was the second oldest person who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands after Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, who died in office at the age of seventy-four. He remained a very active observer of Dutch politics, publishing a substantial number of books and articles until the age of ninety-seven.[2] Willem Drees was the longest-lived Dutch Prime Minister, dying at the age of 101 years, 314 days,[3] on 14 May 1988 in The Hague. He is praised by many as the most important Dutch politician after World War II for his important contributions and social reforms laws and seen as the father of the modern welfare state in the Netherlands.[4][5] Drees was chosen as the best Prime Minister of the Netherlands after World War II after an opinion polling conducted by the VPRO in 2006.[6]

Education and private career

Willem Drees was born in Amsterdam on 5 July 1886. After completing his secondary education in 1903 at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam, he worked until 1906 for the Twentsche Bank in Amsterdam. This was followed by a period as a stenographer with the Municipal Council of Amsterdam and then between 1907 and 1919 with the States General of the Netherlands.

Political involvement

Early career

Prime Minister of Belgium Paul-Henri Spaak and Prime Minister Willem Drees at a Benelux conference in The Hague on 10 March 1949.
Newly appointed Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Prime Minister Willem Drees at the Ministry of Defence on 11 January 1951.
Prime Minister of Greece Alexandros Papagos, Prime Minister Willem Drees and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece Stefanos Stefanopoulos at the Ministry of General Affairs on 2 February 1954.
Willem Drees in his house in The Hague on 2 July 1981.

In 1904 he joined the Social Democratic Workers' Party, which later was absorbed into the Labour Party in 1946. From 1910 to 1931 he was chairman of The Hague branch of the Social Democratic Workers' Party and between 1913 and 1941 a member of the municipal council of The Hague. During that period he was alderman for social affairs from 1919 to 1931 and for finance and public works through to 1933.[2]

For 22 years between 1919 and 1941 Drees also held a seat on the Provincial Council of South Holland and for 19 years between 1927 and 1946 one on the Social Democratic Workers' Party executive. Between 1933 and 1940 he represented the Social Democratic Workers' Party in the House of Representatives and from 1939 as leader in the House of Representatives

During the German occupation he was taken hostage in Buchenwald concentration camp in October 1940. Freed one year later, he played a prominent role, as vice chairman and acting chairman of the illegal Executive Committee of the SDAP, and as a prominent participant in secret interparty consultations. In 1944 he became chairman of the Contact Commissie van de Illegaliteit and a member of the College van Vertrouwensmannen which the government in exile charged with the preparation of steps to be taken at the time of liberation.

Thereafter, from 24 June 1945 to 7 August 1948 Drees was Minister of Social Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Schermerhorn/Drees.

Prime Minister of the Netherlands

From 7 August 1948 to 22 December 1958 he was Prime Minister of the Netherlands in four successive cabinets: First Drees cabinet, Second Drees cabinet, Third Drees cabinet and Fourth Drees cabinet.

Drees's period in office saw at least four major political developments: the traumas of decolonisation, economic reconstruction, the establishment of the Dutch welfare state,[7][8] and international integration and co-operation, including the formation of Benelux, the OEEC, NATO, the ECSC, and the EEC. When his Cabinet broke up in December 1958, he was appointed to the honorary position of Minister of State, the Labour Party appointed him a member of its Executive Council for life in 1959. Due to impaired hearing he stopped attending its meetings in 1966. He strongly disagreed with New Left tendencies in the membership and strategies of the Labour Party. He eventually gave up membership of a party he had served for close to 67 years.

Drees was an Esperantist and addressed the 1954 World Congress of Esperanto, which was held in Haarlem.[9]

A wide range of social reforms were carried out during's Drees's tenure as Prime Minister. The Occupational Pensions Funds Act of March 1949 made membership of industry-wide pension funds compulsory, while the General Old Age Pensions Act of May 1956 introduced universal flat-rate old age pensions for all residents as a right and with no retirement condition at the age of 65. The Retired Persons' Family Allowances Act of November 1950 established a special allowance for pensioned public servants with children, a law of November 1950 extended compulsory health insurance to cover other groups, such as old-age and invalidity pensioners, and a law of December 1956 introduced health insurance with special low contributions for old-aged pensioners below a certain income ceiling. A law of August 1950 established equal rights for illegitimate children, and introduced an allowance for disabled children between the ages of 16 and 20. The Temporary Family Allowances Act for the Self-employed of June 1951 entitled self-employed persons with low incomes to family allowance for the first and second child, and a law of February 1952 introduced an allowance for studying and for disabled children until the age of 27.[10] In 1950, works councils were established,[11] and in 1957 the dismissal of female civil servants upon marriage was abolished.[12]

In the field of housing, the Implementation for Rent Act (1950) fixed rents and rent increases, while the Regional and Town Planning Act (1950) regulated the planning of house building. In addition, the Reconstruction Act of 1950 established housebuilding programmes,[13] and legislation was passed on house building standards (1951), the uniformity of buildings (1954), and uniform building standards (1956).[14] In education, measures were carried out such as increased expenditure on the system, a reduction in registration fees at State universities and at the institute of technology,[13] and the granting (in January 1956) of a special benefit to primary school teachers and to certain categories of vocational teachers, "particularly those who risk being unemployed and who cannot lay claim to a retaining fee."[15] Other initiatives included secondary schools for girls and special primary education in 1949, teacher training colleges in 1952,[16] the extension of compulsory education to 8 years in 1950,[17] and the Nursery Education Act of 1955, which introduced the option of kindergarten for children from the age of four upwards, while also establishing regulations for nursery-school teachers.[10] A department of social welfare was also established (1952), while laws were passed on unemployment benefits (1952) and a widows' and orphans' pension (1956).[14]

Personal life

On 28 July 1910, Drees married Catharina Hent (6 May 1888 – 30 January 1974)[18][19] and had two sons and two daughters, Both his sons Jan Drees and Willem Drees Jr. were active members of the Labour Party, but left the party around 1970 to join the Democratic Socialists '70. The cause was a row with younger party members who wanted to plot a more radical left-wing course for the party. Drees himself left the Labour Party in 1971 leaving them without their icon, but he never joined the Democratic Socialists '70.

Drees was a Teetotaler. Willem Drees died on 14 May 1988 in The Hague, two months before his 102nd birthday.[20] From 22 August 1986, when former Turkish President Celâl Bayar died until his own death, Drees was the world's oldest living former head of state.

In 2004 he ended in third place in the election of The Greatest Dutchman.[21][22]

Further reading

Four Volume Biography Willem Drees 1886-1988, in Dutch:

  • Jelle Gaemers, De rode wethouder: De jaren 1886-1940" (Amsterdam: Balans, 2006).637 pp. ISBN 90 5018 760 9.
  • Hans Daalder, Gedreven en behoedzaam: De jaren 1940-1948 (Amsterdam: Balans, 2003). 528 pp. ISBN 90 5018 6157.
  • Hans Daalder, Vier jaar nachtmerrie: De Indonesische kwestie (Amsterdam: Balans, 2004). 548 pp. ISBN 90 5018 639 4.
  • Hans Daalder en Jelle Gaemers, Premier en elder statesman: De jaren 1948-1988 (Amsterdam: Balans, 2014). 640 pp. ISBN 978 94 600 3715 3.
  • W. Drees, Gespiegeld in de tijd. De nagelaten autobiografie (Amsterdam 2000). (Memoir by Willem Drees, Jr.)

Decorations

Honours
Ribbon bar Honour Country Date Comment
Medal of Freedom stripe gullpalme.svg Medal of Freedom with Gold Palm United States 7 April 1953
UK Order St-Michael St-George ribbon.svg Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George United Kingdom
Order of the Holy Trinity (Ethiopia) - ribbon bar.gif Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Trinity Ethiopia 1954
NLD Order of the Dutch Lion - Grand Cross BAR.png Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Netherlands 22 December 1958
Honorific Titles
Ribbon bar Honour Country Date Comment
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Minister of State Netherlands 22 December 1958 Style of Excellency

References

  1. ^ "The Encyclopedia Americana". Grolier. 18 November 1992 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ a b ‹See Tfd›(in Dutch) Biography Willem Drees BWSA
  3. ^ Mcwhirter, Norris; McFarlan, Donald (18 November 1989). "the Guinness Book of Records 1990". Guinness Publishing Ltd – via Google Books.
  4. ^ ‹See Tfd›(in Dutch) Geschiedenis VPRO Geschiedenis 24.
  5. ^ ‹See Tfd›(in Dutch) Willem Drees beste crisismanager Geencommentaar.nl.
  6. ^ ‹See Tfd›(in Dutch) Willem Drees gekozen tot ‘Dé premier na WO II’ Geschiedenis 24.
  7. ^ Orlow, D. (2000). Common Destiny: A Comparative History of the Dutch, French, and German Social Democratic Parties, 1945-1969. Berghahn Books. p. 120. ISBN 9781571812254. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  8. ^ Lentz, H.M. (2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Taylor & Francis. p. 578. ISBN 9781134264902. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  9. ^ UEA: Reta Muzeo. Materialoj el Biblioteko Hector Hodler. 1947-1974 World Esperanto Association.
  10. ^ a b Growth to Limits: The Western European Welfare States Since World War II, Volume 2 edited by Peter Flora.
  11. ^ Wilkinson, A.; Donaghey, J.; Dundon, T.; Freeman, R.B. (2014). Handbook of Research on Employee Voice: Elgar original reference. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 68. ISBN 9780857939272. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  12. ^ http://nidi.knaw.nl/shared/content/output/2002/ssm-54-05-fokkema.pdf
  13. ^ a b Moore, B.; van Nierop, H. (2006). Twentieth-Century Mass Society in Britain and the Netherlands. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 60. ISBN 9781845205256. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  14. ^ a b van Heffen, O.; Kickert, W.J.M.; Thomassen, J. (2013). Governance in Modern Society: Effects, Change and Formation of Government Institutions. Springer Netherlands. ISBN 9789401594868. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  15. ^ http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001329/132929eo.pdf
  16. ^ Wolthuis, J. (1999). Lower Technical Education in the Netherlands 1798-1993: The Rise and Fall of a Subsystem. Coronet Books Incorporated. p. 202. ISBN 9789053508619. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  17. ^ Hindman, H.D. (2009). The World of Child Labor: An Historical and Regional Survey. M.E. Sharpe. p. 635. ISBN 9780765626479. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  18. ^ "Graftombe.nl - Informatie over Catharina Hent". www.graftombe.nl.
  19. ^ "SeniorPlaza - Willem Drees". seniorplaza.nl.
  20. ^ "Willem Drees Dies at 101; Postwar Dutch Leader". The New York Times. 19 May 1988.
  21. ^ ‹See Tfd›(in Dutch) 'Pim Fortuyn toch niet de Grootste Nederlander' NU.nl
  22. ^ ‹See Tfd›(in Dutch) Zoektocht naar ‘Grootste Nederlander’ begint Geschiedenis24

External links

Media related to Willem Drees at Wikimedia Commons

Official
Party political offices
Preceded by
Willem Albarda 		Parliamentary leader of the
Social Democratic Workers' Party
in the House of Representatives
1939–1945 		Succeeded by
Marinus van der
Goes van Naters
Leader of the Social
Democratic Workers' Party
1940–1946 		Party merged into
the Labour Party
New political party Leader of the Labour Party
1946–1958 		Succeeded by
Jaap Burger
Preceded by
Various 		Lijsttrekker of the Labour Party
1952, 1956 		Succeeded by
Various
Political offices
Preceded by
Dolf Joekes 		Minister of Social Affairs
1945–1948 		Succeeded by
Frans Wijffels
New office Deputy Prime Minister
1945–1948 		Succeeded by
Josef van Schaik
Preceded by
Louis Beel 		Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1948–1958 		Succeeded by
Louis Beel
Minister of General Affairs
1948–1958
Preceded by
Johan van Maarseveen 		Minister of Colonial Affairs
Ad interim
1951 		Succeeded by
Leonard Peters
Preceded by
Piet Lieftinck 		Minister of Finance
Ad interim
1952 		Succeeded by
Jo van de Kieft