First Beel cabinet

First Beel cabinet
First Beel cabinet
; 42nd Cabinet of the Netherlands
	First meeting of the cabinet at the Ministry of General Affairs on 3 July 1946
Date formed	3 July 1946
Date dissolved	7 August 1948 ; 2 years, 35 days in office ; (Demissionary from 7 July 1948)
People and organisations
Monarch	Queen Wilhelmina
Prime Minister	Louis Beel
Deputy Prime Minister	Willem Drees
No. of ministers	17
Ministers removed	5
Total no. of members	19
Member party	Catholic People's Party ; (KVP) ; Labour Party ; (PvdA)
Status in legislature	Centrist ; Majority government ; (Grand coalition/Roman-Red)
History
Election(s)	1946 election
Outgoing election	1948 election
Legislature term(s)	1946–1948
Incoming formation	1946 formation
Outgoing formation	1948 formation
Predecessor	Schermerhorn–Drees cabinet
Successor	Drees–Van Schaik cabinet

The First Beel cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch Government from 3 July 1946 until 7 August 1948. The cabinet was formed by the christian-democratic Catholic People's Party (KVP) and the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA) after the election of 1946. The cabinet was a centre-left^[1] grand coalition and had a substantial majority in the House of Representatives with prominent Catholic politician Louis Beel serving as Prime Minister and dual served as Minister of the Interior continuing from the previous cabinet. Labour Leader Willem Drees continued as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs from the previous cabinet. According to one study, “Beel was of the opinion that a joint KVP-PvdA program should be presented to other political groups. According to Beel, that program should be socio-economically progressive, that is to say reform-oriented in favor of broad layers of the population. The socialists should not have to fear that a conservative wing within the KVP would rule the roost.”^[2]

The cabinet served during early years of the post-war 1940s. Domestically the beginning of the recovery and rebuilding following World War II continued with the Marshall Plan, it was also to implement several major social reforms to social security. Internationally the beginning of the decolonization of the Dutch East Indies was continued. The cabinet suffered no major internal and external conflicts. Following a major revision of the constitution a snap election was called to simultaneously elect a new parliament. Following the election the cabinet continued in a demissionary capacity until it was replaced with the Drees–Van Schaik cabinet.^[3]^[4]

Term

A major issue was the independence of the Dutch East Indies. This required a change in the constitution. In November 1946 the Linggadjati Agreement was signed, but different interpretations led to Dutch military intervention (politionele acties). Under international pressure through the UN, this ended and negotiations restarted, ultimately resulting in the new country Indonesia, but only under the next cabinet, Drees I. An important new law was the 'Noodwet Ouderdomsvoorziening' by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs Willem Drees.

Cabinet Members

Ministers		Title/Ministry/Portfolio(s)			Term of office	Party
	Dr. Louis Beel (1902–1977)	Prime Minister			3 July 1946 – 7 August 1948	Catholic People's Party
			General Affairs		11 October 1947 – 7 August 1948
		Minister	Interior		23 February 1945 – 15 September 1947 ^[Retained]
	Willem Drees (1886–1988)	Deputy Prime Minister	Social Affairs		25 June 1945 – 7 August 1948 ^[Retained]	Labour Party
	Willem Drees (1886–1988)	Minister	Social Affairs		25 June 1945 – 7 August 1948 ^[Retained]	Labour Party
	Dr. Piet Witteman (1892–1972)	Minister	Interior		15 September 1947 – 7 August 1948	Catholic People's Party
	Baron Pim van Boetzelaer van Oosterhout (1892–1986)	Minister	Foreign Affairs		3 July 1946 – 7 August 1948	Independent Conservative Liberal
	Dr. Piet Lieftinck (1902–1989)	Minister	Finance		25 June 1945 – 1 July 1952 ^[Retained] ^[Continued]	Labour Party
	Johan van Maarseveen (1894–1951)	Minister	Justice		3 July 1946 – 7 August 1948	Catholic People's Party
	Dr. Gerardus Huysmans (1902–1948)	Minister	Economic Affairs		3 July 1946 – 14 January 1948 ^[Res]	Catholic People's Party
	Sicco Mansholt (1908–1995)				14 January 1948 – 20 January 1948 ^{[Ad Interim]}	Labour Party
	Dr. Jan van den Brink (1915–2006)				20 January 1948 – 2 September 1952 ^[Continued]	Catholic People's Party
	Lieutenant colonel Alexander Fiévez (1902–1949)	Minister	War		3 July 1946 – 7 August 1948	Catholic People's Party
			Navy		3 July 1946 – 7 August 1946 ^{[Ad Interim]}
					25 November 1947 – 7 August 1948
	Rear admiral Jules Schagen van Leeuwen (1896–1976)				7 August 1946 – 25 November 1947 ^[Res]	Independent Social Conservative
	Dr. Jos Gielen (1898–1981)	Minister	Education, Arts and Sciences		3 July 1946 – 7 August 1948	Catholic People's Party
	Hein Vos (1903–1972)	Minister	Transport		3 July 1946 – 1 March 1947	Labour Party
	Hein Vos (1903–1972)	Minister	Transport and Water Management ^[Note]		1 March 1947 – 7 August 1948	Labour Party
	Sicco Mansholt (1908–1995)	Minister	Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies		25 June 1945 – 1 January 1958 ^[Retained] ^[Continued]	Labour Party
	Dr. Johan Ringers (1885–1965)	Minister	Public Works and Reconstruction		25 June 1945 – 15 November 1946 ^[Retained] ^[Res]	Independent Classical Liberal
	Hein Vos (1900–1972)		Public Works and Reconstruction		15 November 1946 – 3 March 1947 ^[Acting]	Labour Party
	Lambertus Neher (1899–1967)		Reconstruction and Housing ^[Note]		3 March 1947 – 1 March 1948 ^[Res]	Labour Party
	Dr. Joris in 't Veld (1895–1981)		Reconstruction and Housing ^[Note]		1 March 1948 – 2 September 1952 ^[Continued]	Labour Party
	Jan Jonkman (1891–1976)	Minister	Colonial Affairs		3 July 1946 – 30 August 1947 ^[Note]	Labour Party
	Dr. Louis Beel (1902–1977)				30 August 1947 – 3 November 1947 ^[Acting]	Catholic People's Party
	Jan Jonkman (1891–1976)				3 November 1947 – 30 August 1947	Labour Party
Ministers without portfolio		Title/Ministry/Portfolio(s)			Term of office	Party
	Eelco van Kleffens (1894–1983)	Minister	Foreign Affairs	• United Nations	1 March 1946 – 1 July 1947 ^[Retained] ^[App]	Independent Classical Liberal
	Lubbertus Götzen (1894–1979)	Minister	Colonial Affairs	• Colonial Fiscal Policy	11 November 1947 – 15 March 1951 ^[Continued]	Independent Christian Democratic Protestant

^Resigned

^{Retained from the previous cabinet}

^{Continued in the next cabinet}

^Acting

^{Ad Interim}

^{Ministry renamed}

^{Medical leave of absence from 30 August 1947 until 3 November 1947}

^{Appointed as Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations}

Trivia

Six cabinet members had previous experience as scholars or professors: Louis Beel (Administrative Law), Piet Lieftinck (Financial and Business Economics), Jan van den Brink (Public Economics and Economical Statistics), Jos Gielen (Philology and Education Sociology), Johan Ringers (Hydraulic and Structural Engineering) and Joris in 't Veld (Public Administration).
The age difference between oldest cabinet member Johan Ringers (born 1885) and the youngest cabinet member Jan van den Brink (born 1915) was 30 years, 100 days.
Louis Beel became the youngest Dutch Prime Minister at the age of 44 years, 82 days, a record that was broken in 1982 by Ruud Lubbers.
Jan van den Brink became the youngest Dutch Minister at the age of 32 years, 283 days.

References

^ Changing Liaisons The Dynamics of Social Partnership in 20th Century West-European DemocraciesBy Karel Davids, 2007, P.165
^ III. De kabinetsformatie van 1946 a. De formatie tot 17 juni 1946
^ "Coalities tussen sociaaldemocraten en confessionelen" (in Dutch). Historisch Nieuwsblad. 10 August 2006. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
^ F.J.F.M. Duynstee; J. Bosmans (1977). Parlementaire geschiedenis van Nederland na 1945 , deel 1, Het kabinet-Schermerhorn-Drees (1945-1946). Van Gorcum. p. 5. ISBN 90-232-1412-9.

External links

Official

(in Dutch) Kabinet-Beel I Parlement & Politiek
(in Dutch) Kabinet-Beel I Rijksoverheid

[1] Changing Liaisons The Dynamics of Social Partnership in 20th Century West-European DemocraciesBy Karel Davids, 2007, P.165

[2] III. De kabinetsformatie van 1946 a. De formatie tot 17 juni 1946

[3] "Coalities tussen sociaaldemocraten en confessionelen" (in Dutch). Historisch Nieuwsblad. 10 August 2006. Retrieved 24 April 2018.

[4] F.J.F.M. Duynstee; J. Bosmans (1977). Parlementaire geschiedenis van Nederland na 1945 , deel 1, Het kabinet-Schermerhorn-Drees (1945-1946). Van Gorcum. p. 5. ISBN 90-232-1412-9.

v t e First Beel cabinet (1946–1948)
Preceded: Schermerhorn–Drees cabinet Succeed: Drees–Van Schaik cabinet
Prime Minister	Louis Beel (General Affairs)
Deputy Prime Minister	Willem Drees (Social Affairs)
Ministers	Louis Beel (Interior) (1946–1947) Piet Witteman (Interior) (from 1947) Pim van Boetzelaer van Oosterhout (Foreign Affairs) Piet Lieftinck (Finance) Johan van Maarseveen (Justice) Gerardus Huysmans (Economic Affairs) (1946–1948) Sicco Mansholt (Economic Affairs) (Ad interim) Jan van den Brink (Economic Affairs) (from 1948) Alexander Fiévez (War) Alexander Fiévez (Navy) (Ad interim) Jules Schagen van Leeuwen (Navy) (1946–1947) Alexander Fiévez (Navy) (from 1947) Jos Gielen (Education, Arts and Sciences) Hein Vos (Transport) (1946–1947) Hein Vos (Transport and Water Management) (from 1947) Johan Ringers (Public Works and Reconstruction (1946) Hein Vos (Public Works and Reconstruction (1946–1947) (Ad interim) Lambertus Neher (Reconstruction and Housing (1947–1948) Joris in 't Veld (Reconstruction and Housing (from 1948) Jan Jonkman (Colonial Affairs)
Ministers without portfolio	Eelco van Kleffens (United Nations Affairs) Lubbertus Götzen (Indonesian Monetary Policy)

First Beel cabinet
42nd Cabinet of the Netherlands
First meeting of the cabinet at the Ministry of General Affairs on 3 July 1946
Date formed	3 July 1946 (1946-07-03)
Date dissolved	7 August 1948 (1948-08-07) 2 years, 35 days in office (Demissionary from 7 July 1948 (1948-07-07))
People and organisations
Monarch	Queen Wilhelmina
Prime Minister	Louis Beel
Deputy Prime Minister	Willem Drees
No. of ministers	17
Ministers removed	5
Total no. of members	19
Member party	Catholic People's Party (KVP) Labour Party (PvdA)
Status in legislature	Centrist Majority government (Grand coalition/Roman-Red)
History
Election(s)	1946 election
Outgoing election	1948 election
Legislature term(s)	1946–1948
Incoming formation	1946 formation
Outgoing formation	1948 formation
Predecessor	Schermerhorn–Drees cabinet
Successor	Drees–Van Schaik cabinet