Kálmán Darányi

His parents were Béla Darányi and Antónia Nagy. His uncle was Ignác Darányi who served as the Minister of Agriculture during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Darányi started his civil service career in 1909 at Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County. After the revolutions of 1918–1919 he served as commissioner then ispán (county head) of Győr County, Komárom County and Győr. Darányi became a member of the Hungarian Diet in 1927. Gyula Gömbös appointed him Minister of Agriculture in 1935. In addition to his political activities he played a leadership role in the Agricultural class movement. He also took part in the life of the Calvinist Church as a member of the Universal Convent and synod.

Darányi replaced the ailing Gyula Gömbös as prime minister. After the death of Gömbös, Regent Miklós Horthy appointed Darányi as Gömbös' successor on 12 October 1936. Darányi wanted to return to the platform of István Bethlen with a program to preserve constitutional order, but he did not want to turn sharply against Gömbös' political testament. He maintained the promise of secret suffrage, but first of all he wanted to increase the gubernatorial jurisdiction and the House of Magnates' role.

He set himself apart from right-wing and left-wing extremes both during the initial period of his prime ministership. In April 1937 he banned the Party of National Will, which was the predecessor of the Hungarian National Socialist Party and the Arrow Cross Party. Ferenc Szálasi, the leader of the party, was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment for three years. But the March Front (founded on 15 March 1937), a progressive political-intellectual movement, was also subjected to police harassment and prosecutions.

Darányi and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kálmán Kánya attempted to strengthen contacts with the United Kingdom and France to balance pressure from Nazi Germany. However, the Western powers were not very receptive of these endeavors. Hungarian foreign policy continued to promote the country's relationship with Italy at the same time. The thought of the cooperation between Italy, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Poland was resumed in Rome.

During his term the gubernatorial jurisdiction was expanded again (for the fourth time). The Regent was now allowed to delay the implementation of bills by up to a year, and he was no longer accountable to Parliament. The law also specified the role of the National Council in case of vacancy of the gubernatorial seat. The House of Magnates' jurisdiction was also expanded: the upper house could now return laws to the lower house twice.

In 1938, Darányi accepted the law of suffrage that was advocated by Gyula Gömbös. This law modified earlier provisions in two areas: it abolished the open vote in favor of the secret ballot, but narrowed suffrage rights. The new law reduced the number of eligible voters by 250,000 – 300,000. The minimum voting age for men was now 26 (in regional elections) and 30 (in constituency elections), while for women, the universal voting age was 30 years. He introduced mandatory old-age social insurance for agricultural workers. For the civil servants the work week was set at 44 hours while for industrial workers, 48 hours.

The Hungarian military force's state was disastrous. To address this, Darányi presented the Győr Program, which was drawn up by Béla Imrédy. The aim of the program was to modernize the army and upgrade its equipment. The government allocated one billion pengős for the program. This, originally earmarked for five years, was spent in under two years. Of the program's budget, 60% was used for the development of the army while 40% was spent on infrastructure. This program's invigorating effect on the economy was considerable.

After the Anschluss, Darányi's political direction changed. As of March 1938, Hungary was now a neighbor of Nazi Germany. A vigorous Nazi propaganda campaign was initiated in the country. Darányi shifted towards the right in response. He appointed pro-German politicians to his cabinet. He regularly expressed the importance of the German relations. Darányi began secret negotiations with Kálmán Hubay with the intention of uniting right extremist forces. He agreed to allow Arrow Cross Party members to run for parliament so long as these right extremist politicians agreed to respect the law. Conservatives responded to these steps with distrust. Horthy also expressed his discontent, which is why Darányi resigned as prime minister on 11 May 1938. He was followed by Béla Imrédy in this position.

Promoting the First Anti-Jewish Law and its preparation are connected to his name yet. This bill was introduced to the parliament during his prime ministership, but it already became a law during reign of Imrédy. Kálmán Darányi served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 5 December 1938 until his death.

• Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon
• parlament.hu
• Jenő Gergely – Lajos Izsák: A huszadik század története. [History of the twentieth century.] Annonica Kiadó, 2000. (Magyar századok) ISBN 963-9252-13-1
• Mária Ormos: Magyarország a két világháború korában 1914–1945. [Hungary during the two World Wars 1914–1945.] Csokonai Kiadó, Debrecen, 1998. (Történelmi kézikönyvtár) ISBN 963-260-115-7

• Newspaper clippings about Kálmán Darányi in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW