De Quay cabinet

De Quay cabinet
Cabinet of the Netherlands
The installation of the De Quay cabinet on 19 May 1959
Date formed	16 May 1959 (1959-05-16)
Date dissolved	24 July 1963 (1963-07-24) 4 years, 69 days in office (Demissionary from 15 May 1963 (1963-05-15))
People and organisations
Monarch	Queen Juliana
Prime Minister	Jan de Quay
Deputy Prime Minister	Henk Korthals
No. of ministers	14
Ministers removed	2
Total no. of members	16
Member party	Catholic People's Party (KVP) People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) Christian Historical Union (CHU)
Status in legislature	Centre-right Majority government
History
Election	1959 election
Outgoing election	1963 election
Legislature terms	1959–1963
Incoming formation	1959 formation
Outgoing formation	1963 formation
Predecessor	Second Beel cabinet
Successor	Marijnen cabinet

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The De Quay cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch Government from 19 May 1959 until 24 July 1963. The cabinet was formed by the christian-democratic Catholic People's Party (KVP), Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) and Christian Historical Union (CHU) and the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) after the election of 1959. The cabinet was a centre-right coalition and had a substantial majority in the House of Representatives with prominent Catholic politician Jan de Quay the former Queen's Commissioner of North Brabant serving as Prime Minister. Prominent Liberal politician Henk Korthals served as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Transport and Water Management and was given the portfolio of Suriname and Netherlands Antilles Affairs.

The cabinet served in the early years of the tumultuous 1960s; domestically it had to deal with the beginning of the counterculture and the discovery of the Groningen gas field and it was able to implement several major social reforms to the education system and the public sector and social security, internationally the West New Guinea dispute resulted in the disbandment of the Netherlands New Guinea territory following the Battle of Arafura Sea. The cabinet suffered several major internal conflicts including multiple cabinet resignations, but completed its entire term and was succeeded by a continuation of the coalition in the Marijnen cabinet following the election of 1963.^[1]

Cabinet formation was again difficult due to the growing friction between Labour Party and the Catholic People's Party. Despite the fact that this was the first post-war cabinet with the right-wing VDD and without the socialist PvdA, it continued with the building up social security that was started after the war, made possible by the continually growing economy.

The free Saturday was introduced (for civil servants, in 1961), as well as laws for education (mammoetwet), unemployment benefit (bijstandwet) and child benefit (kinderbijslagwet). Natural gas was discovered in Slochteren, which would later turn out to be one of the biggest gas reserves in the world and a major source of income for the Netherlands in the decades to come.

On 23 December 1960 the cabinet fell over extra public housing (woningwetwoningen), but Gaius de Gaay Fortman reconciled matters and the cabinet resumed on 2 January 1961.

In August/September 1962, New Guinea was handed over to Indonesia, under supervision of the UN.

Shortly after the installation of the new government, minister of defence Ven den Bergh resigned for personal reasons (family affairs with his United States wife and children). In 1962, the new minister of defence Visser also had to resign after protests against his dismissal of a critical civil servant. In 1961 minister Van Rooy of social affairs resigned after criticism of how he dealt with the new child benefit law. His post was taken over by former state secretary Veldkamp, whose now vacant former position in turn was taken over by Gijzels.

In 1963, a proposal to install commercial television was not accepted.

Ministers			Title/Ministry/Portfolio(s)			Term of office	Party
		Dr. Jan de Quay (1901–1985)	Prime Minister	General Affairs		19 May 1959 – 24 July 1963	Catholic People's Party
		Henk Korthals (1911–1976)	Deputy Prime Minister	Transport and Water Management		19 May 1959 – 24 July 1963	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
			Minister
			Minister	Interior	• Overseas Affairs	19 May 1959 – 1 September 1959
					• Suriname and Netherlands Antilles Affairs	1 September 1959 – 24 July 1963
		Edzo Toxopeus (1918–2009)	Minister	Interior		19 May 1959 – 14 April 1965 [Continued]	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
		Joseph Luns (1911–2002)	Minister	Foreign Affairs		13 October 1956 – 6 July 1971 [Retained] [Continued]	Catholic People's Party
		Dr. Jelle Zijlstra (1918–2001)	Minister	Finance		22 December 1958 – 24 July 1963 [Retained]	Anti-Revolutionary Party
		Albert Beerman (1901–1967)	Minister	Justice		19 May 1959 – 24 July 1963	Christian Historical Union
		Jan de Pous (1920–1996)	Minister	Economic Affairs		19 May 1959 – 24 July 1963	Christian Historical Union
		Major general Sidney J. van den Bergh (1898–1977)	Minister	Defence		19 May 1959 – 1 August 1959 [Res]	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
		Dr. Jan de Quay (1901–1985)				1 August 1959 – 4 September 1959 [Acting]	Catholic People's Party
		Sim Visser (1908–1983)				4 September 1959 – 24 July 1963	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
		Dr. Charles van Rooy (1912–1996)	Minister	Social Affairs and Health		19 May 1959 – 3 July 1961 [Res]	Catholic People's Party
		Victor Marijnen (1917–1975)				3 July 1961 – 17 July 1961 [Ad Interim]	Catholic People's Party
		Dr. Gerard Veldkamp (1921–1990)				17 July 1961 – 5 April 1967 [Continued]	Catholic People's Party
		Jo Cals (1914–1971)	Minister	Education, Arts and Sciences		2 September 1952 – 7 November 1961 [Retained] [Note]	Catholic People's Party
		Dr. Marga Klompé (1912–1986)				7 November 1961 – 4 February 1962 [Acting]	Catholic People's Party
		Jo Cals (1914–1971)				4 February 1962 – 23 April 1963 [Note]	Catholic People's Party
		Dr. Marga Klompé (1912–1986)				23 April 1963 – 24 July 1963 [Acting]	Catholic People's Party
		Victor Marijnen (1917–1975)	Minister	Agriculture and Fisheries		19 May 1959 – 24 July 1963	Catholic People's Party
		Jan van Aartsen (1909–1992)	Minister	Housing and Construction		19 May 1959 – 24 July 1963	Anti-Revolutionary Party
		Dr. Marga Klompé (1912–1986)	Minister	Social Work		13 October 1956 – 24 July 1963 [Retained]	Catholic People's Party
State Secretaries			Title/Ministry/Portfolio(s)			Term of office	Party
		Norbert Schmelzer (1921–2008)	State Secretary	General Affairs	• Social Market Economy • Public Organisations	19 May 1959 – 24 July 1963	Catholic People's Party
		Theo Bot (1911–1984)	State Secretary	Interior	• Netherlands New Guinea	23 November 1959 – 24 July 1963	Catholic People's Party
		Dr. Hans van Houten (1907–1996)	State Secretary	Foreign Affairs	• European Union • NATO • Benelux • International Organizations	24 August 1959 – 24 July 1963	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
		Dr. Willem Hendrik van den Berge (1905–1987)	State Secretary	Finance	• Fiscal Policy • Tax and Customs • Governmental Budget	27 May 1959 – 14 April 1965	Independent Social Democrat
		Dr. Gerard Veldkamp (1921–1990)	State Secretary	Economic Affairs	• Small and Medium-sized Businesses • Consumer Protection • Tourism	10 October 1952 – 17 July 1961 [Retained] [App]	Catholic People's Party
		Frans Gijzels (1911–1977)				14 September 1961 – 24 July 1963	Catholic People's Party
		Lieutenant general Michael Calmeyer (1895–1990)	State Secretary	Defence	• Army • Air Force	19 June 1959 – 24 July 1963	Christian Historical Union
		Captain Piet de Jong (1915–2016)			• Navy	25 June 1959 – 24 July 1963	Catholic People's Party
		Bauke Roolvink (1912–1979)	State Secretary	Social Affairs and Health	• Social Security • Unemployment • Occupational Safety • Social Services	15 June 1959 – 24 July 1963	Anti-Revolutionary Party
		Gerard Stubenrouch (1918–1962)	State Secretary	Education, Arts and Sciences	• Primary Education • Secondary Education	16 June 1959 – 22 April 1962 [Died]	Catholic People's Party
		Dr. Harry Janssen (1910–1982)				4 June 1962 – 24 July 1963	Catholic People's Party
		Ynso Scholten (1918–1984)			• Youth Care • Nature • Media • Culture • Art • Recreation • Sport	16 June 1959 – 24 July 1963	Christian Historical Union
		Eddie Stijkel (1918–1982)	State Secretary	Transport and Water Management	• Public Transport • Aviation • Rail Transport • Water Management	15 October 1959 – 24 July 1963	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy

^Resigned

^{Retained from the previous cabinet}

^{Continued in the next cabinet}

^Acting

^{Ad Interim}

^{Died in Office}

^{Medical leave of absence from 7 November 1961 until 4 February 1962 and from 23 April 1963}

^{Appointed as Minister of Social Affairs and Health}

• The age difference between oldest cabinet member Michael Calmeyer (born 1895) and the youngest cabinet member Gerard Veldkamp (born 1921) was 26 years, 10 days.
• Six cabinet members had previous experience as scholars and professors: Jan de Quay (Applied Psychology and Business Theory), Jelle Zijlstra (Public Economics), Jan de Pous (Public Economics), Gerard Veldkamp (Microeconomics), Willem Hendrik van den Berge (Public Economics) and Harry Janssen (Latin).
• Four cabinet members (later) served as Prime Minister: Victor Marijnen (1963–1965), Jo Cals (1965–1966), Jelle Zijlstra (1966–1967), and Piet de Jong (1967–1971).
• Four cabinet members (later) served as Queen's Commissioners: Jan de Quay (North-Brabant), Edzo Toxopeus (Groningen), Charles van Rooy (Limburg) and Jan van Aartsen (Zeeland).
• The sons of Ministers Henk Korthals (Benk) and Jan van Aartsen (Jozias) would later serve together as Ministers in the Second Kok cabinet 35 years later.

Official

• (in Dutch) Kabinet-De Quay Parlement & Politiek
• (in Dutch) Kabinet-De Quay Rijksoverheid

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