- Willem Drees
Infobox Officeholder
name = Willem Drees
imagesize =
small
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office =Prime Minister of the Netherlands
term_start = 7 August 1948
term_end = 22 December 1958
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predecessor =Louis Beel
successor =Louis Beel
constituency =
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birth_date = birth date|1886|7|5|df=y
birth_place =Amsterdam ,Netherlands
death_date = death date and age|1988|5|14|1886|7|5|df=y
death_place =The Hague ,Netherlands
nationality = Dutch
party = Social Democratic Workers' Party, Labour Party
spouse = Catharina Hent
relations =
children = two sons and two daughters
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footnotes =Willem Drees (pronounced "Drace") (5 July 1886 – 14 May 1988) was a Dutch
politician ,prime minister of the Netherlands from 1948 until 1958, as a member of thesocial-democratic Dutch Labour Party (PvdA).Born in
Amsterdam , Drees was known as "Vadertje Drees" ("Little Father Drees"), and was very popular. During his office asprime minister , the Netherlands recovered from theSecond World War ,decolonization took place and the modernwelfare state was formed. After his time as prime minister, Drees was still called upon in time of constitutional crisis, in 1966 he was member of the committee which advised government on theministerial responsibility towards members of the royal house, together withPieter Oud .Drees also held the cabinet position of Minister of State in 1959. He died in
The Hague in 1988 at almost 102.Drees was an
Esperantist and addressed the 1954World Congress of Esperanto , which was held inHaarlem . [ [http://uea.org/dokumentoj/bhh/rm1947-1974.html UEA: Reta Muzeo. Materialoj el Biblioteko Hector Hodler. 1947-1974 ] ]Both his sons Jan and Willem (1922-1998) were active members of the PvdA, but left the party around 1970 to join DS' 70 (Democratic Socialists '70). The cause was a row with younger party members who wanted to plot a more radical leftwing course for the party. Willem Drees would soon also leave the PvdA, leaving them without their icon, but never joined DS '70.
In 2004, he ended in third place in the election of
De Grootste Nederlander (The Greatest Dutchman).References
Further reading
* W. Drees, "Gespiegeld in de tijd. De nagelaten autobiografie" (Amsterdam 2000). (Memoir by Willem Drees, jr.)
External links
* [http://www.iisg.nl/bwsa/bios/drees.html Biography Willem Drees]
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