Victor Marijnen
Victor Gerard Marie "Vic" Marijnen was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal party. He was a jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 24 July 1963 until 14 April 1965.
Marijnen applied at the Radboud University Nijmegen in June 1936 majoring in Law and obtaining an Bachelor of Laws degree in July 1938 before graduating with an Master of Laws degree in July 1941. Marijnen worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Shipping and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from August 1941 until May 1944, and for the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture from May 1944 until October 1945, and for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies from October 1945 until February 1949. Marijnen applied at the Rotterdam School of Economics in December 1945 for a postgraduate education and obtained an Bachelor of Economics degree in December 1946. Marijnen worked as a trade association executive for the :nl:LTO Nederland|Christian Farmers and Gardeners Association and served as General-Secretary from February 1949 until April 1951. Marijnen worked again for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies from April 1951 until November 1957 as Deputy Director-General of the department for Agricultural Trade from April 1951 until January 1953. He served as Director-General of the department for Agricultural Trade from January 1953 until November 1957. Marijnen worked as a trade association executive for the Catholic Employers association and served as General-Secretary from November 1957 until May 1959. After the election of 1959 Marijnen was appointed as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in the Cabinet De Quay, taking office on 19 May 1959. Marijnen served as acting Minister of Social Affairs and Health from 3 July 1961 until 17 July 1961 following the resignation of Charles van Rooy. Marijnen was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 1963, taking office on 2 July 1963.
Following several failed cabinet formation attempts, Marijnen was approached by the Leader of the Catholic People's Party Wim de Kort as a candidate for Prime Minister, Marijnen accepted and was appointed as Formateur to form a new cabinet. The following cabinet formation of 1963 resulted in a coalition agreement between the Catholic People's Party, the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, the Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Christian Historical Union which formed the Cabinet Marijnen with Marijnen becoming Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of General Affairs, taking office on 24 July 1963. The Cabinet Marijnen fell on 27 February 1965 following a disagreement in the coalition about proposed reforms to the public broadcasting system and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until the cabinet formation of 1965 with Marijnen not giving a cabinet post in the new cabinet, the Cabinet Marijnen was replaced by the Cabinet Cals on 14 April 1965.
Marijnen returned as Member of the House of Representatives taking the place of his successor as Prime Minister Jo Cals, taking office on 27 April 1965 and continued to serve in the House of Representatives as a backbencher until his resignation on 14 January 1966. Marijnen also became active in the public sector and occupied numerous seats as a nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards and served on several :nl:Staatscommissie|state commissions and councils on behalf of the government. On 12 May 1965, Marijnen was nominated as the first Chairman of the Rijnmond Council, a direct electable sub national administrative layer between the municipalities and the provinces in the Rijnmond Area, taking office on 20 May 1965. In September 1968, Marijnen was nominated as Mayor of The Hague, he resigned as Chairman of the Rijnmond Council the day he was installed as Mayor, taking office on 16 October 1968. On 5 April 1975 Marijnen died after suffering a fatal heart Attack at his home in The Hague.
Marijnen was known for his abilities as a manager and consensus builder. During his premiership, his cabinet was responsible for reforms to health insurance, the handling of the marriage between Princess Irene and Carlos Hugo of Bourbon-Parma and the proposed reforms to the public broadcasting system.
Biography
Early life
Victor Gerard Marie Marijnen was born in Arnhem on 21 February 1917. In 1941 he graduated in law from the Radboud University Nijmegen and went on to work in the accountancy divisions of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. In 1945 he was seconded to the Council for the Restitution of Legal Rights.In 1949 Marijnen became secretary of the Agricultural Society and in 1951 Secretary-General of the Foreign Agricultural Trade Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. From 1957 he was secretary of the General Catholic Employers Association and the Catholic Federation of Employers Associations.
Lyndon B. Johnson at Ypenburg Airport on 5 november 1963.
Accusations regarding paedophile priests
In 1956 Marijnen was chairman of a children's home in Gelderland where children, including Henk Heithuis, were sexually abused by priests. According to the Telegraph newspaper, reporting in March 2012, he "intervened to have prison sentences dropped against several priests convicted of abusing children." The Dutch Catholic Church organised the castration of Heithuis while he lived at the Gelderland children's home in 1956 after he reported being sexually abused to the police.Politics
In the De Quay cabinet, Marijnen was Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 24 July 1963 until 14 April 1965.The natural gas reserves, recently found in Slochteren were a considerable boost for the economy. This, combined with labour shortage led to a rise in wages and the attraction of foreign workers. Despite this being the second cabinet without socialist Labour Party, the building up of a welfare state, that was started after World War II, continued with the introduction of minimum wages in 1964 and the national health service. In 1965, measures were taken against commercial television stations transmitting from the North Sea. The cabinet finally fell over the issue if commercial TV should be allowed in the Netherlands.
From 1965 to 1966 Marijnen was a member of the House of Representatives and concurrently chairman of the Board of the Rijnmond Authority. In 1967 he was also appointed chairman of the Post and Telecommunications Council. On 16 October 1968 he was selected Mayor of The Hague.
Marijnen died on 5 April 1975 in The Hague, while serving as Mayor from a heart attack at the age of 58.