De Quay cabinet

The De Quay cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 19 May 1959 until 24 July 1963. The cabinet was formed by the political parties Catholic People's Party (KVP), People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) and the Christian Historical Union (CHU) after the election of 1959. The centre-right cabinet was a majority government in the House of Representatives.[1]

De Quay cabinet
48th 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) (Demissionary from 15 May 1963 (1963-05-15))
People and organisations
Head of state	Queen Juliana
Head of government	Jan de Quay
Deputy head of government	Henk Korthals
No. of ministers	14
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
Opposition party	Labour Party
Opposition leader	Jaap Burger (1959–1962) Anne Vondeling (1962–1963)
History
Election(s)	1959 election
Outgoing election	1963 election
Legislature term(s)	1959–63
Incoming formation	1959 formation
Outgoing formation	1963 formation
Predecessor	Second Beel cabinet
Successor	Marijnen cabinet

Formation

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.

Term

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.

Cabinet Members

Ministers			Title/Ministry		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 / Minister	Transport and Water Management	19 May 1959 – 24 July 1963	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
		Edzo Toxopeus (1918–2009)	Minister	Interior	19 May 1959 – 14 April 1965	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
		Dr. Joseph Luns (1911–2002)	Minister	Foreign Affairs	13 October 1956 – 6 July 1971 ^[Retained]	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
		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 ^[Ad interim]	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	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 ^[Ad interim]	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 ^[Ad interim]	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
Minister without portfolio			Title/Portfolio/Ministry		Term of office	Party
		Henk Korthals (1911–1976)	Minister	Overseas Affairs (within Interior)	19 May 1959 – 1 September 1959	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
				Suriname and Netherlands Antilles Affairs (within Interior)	1 September 1959 – 24 July 1963
State Secretaries			Title/Portfolio/Ministry		Term of office	Party
		Norbert Schmelzer (1921–2008)	State Secretary	• Privatization Policy • Government Real Estate • Public Sector Organisations (within General Affairs)	19 May 1959 – 24 July 1963	Catholic People's Party
		Theo Bot (1911–1984)	State Secretary	• New Guinea Political Affairs (within Interior)	23 November 1959 – 24 July 1963	Catholic People's Party
		Dr. Hans van Houten (1907–1996)	State Secretary	• European Affairs • NATO Affairs • Benelux Affairs • Development Cooperation • International Aviation Policy (within Foreign Affairs)	24 August 1959 – 24 July 1963	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
		Dr. Willem Hendrik van den Berge (1905–1987)	State Secretary	• Fiscal Affairs • Tax and Customs Administration (within Finance)	27 May 1959 – 14 April 1965	Independent Social Democrat
		Dr. Gerard Veldkamp (1921–1990)	State Secretary	• Small Business Policy • Retail Policy • Competition Policy • Tourism Affairs (within Economic Affairs)	10 October 1952 – 17 July 1961 ^[Retained] ^[Appt]	Catholic People's Party
		Frans Gijzels (1911–1977)			14 September 1961 – 24 July 1963	Catholic People's Party
		Michael Calmeyer (1895–1990)	State Secretary	• Army • Air Force (within Defence)	19 June 1959 – 24 July 1963	Christian Historical Union
		Piet de Jong (1915–2016)		• Navy (within Defence)	25 June 1959 – 24 July 1963	Catholic People's Party
		Bauke Roolvink (1912–1979)	State Secretary	• Social Security • Unemployment Affairs • Occupational Safety • Social Services • Poverty Policy • Elderly Policy • Disability Affairs • Veteran Affairs (within Social Affairs and Health)	15 June 1959 – 24 July 1963	Anti-Revolutionary Party
		Gerard Stubenrouch (1918–1962)	State Secretary	• Primary Education • Secondary Education • Special Education (within Education, Arts and Sciences)	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 Policy • Environmental Policy • Nature Policy • Media Affairs • Culture Policy • Arts Policy • Recreation Affairs • Sport (within Education, Arts and Sciences)	16 June 1959 – 24 July 1963	Christian Historical Union
		Eddie Stijkel (1918–1982)	State Secretary	• Transport Infrastructure • Aviation Infrastructure • Water Infrastructure • Public Transport • Postal Service • Weather Forecasting Service (within Transport and Water Management)	15 October 1959 – 24 July 1963	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Source: (in Dutch) Rijksoverheid.nl

^Retained Retained this position from the previous cabinet.

^Res Resigned.

^{Ad interim} Served ad interim.

^Appt Appointment: Gerard Veldkamp appointed Minister of Social Affairs and Health.

^Died Died in office.

^Note Medical leave of absence.

References

1. "Jan de Quay: politicus met een dubbel imago" (in Dutch). Historiek. 27 December 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2018.

External links

Official

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