Piet de Jong

Petrus Jozef Sietse "Piet" de Jong (3 April 1915 – 27 July 2016) was a Dutch politician and naval officer who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1967 to 1971.

He was a member of the now-defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP), later merged into the current-day Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).

De Jong applied at the Royal Naval College in Den Helder and graduated as an ensign in the Navy and joined the Submarine Service.

During World War II he served on the submarine HNLMS O 24 as First Officer and later as commanding officer and saw action in both the Battle of the Atlantic and the Pacific War.

After the War De Jong served as a staff officer and commanded a frigate and destroyer.

Petrus Jozef Sietse de Jong was born on 3 April 1915 in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands province of Gelderland in a Roman Catholic family that originated from Friesland, as the sixth of seven children of Joännes Jans de Jong (24 February 1878 – 28 November 1931), a railroad superintendent, and Gijsberta Adriana Schouten (29 December 1877 – 30 June 1957).

After leaving secondary school, de Koninklijke Hogereburgerschool (now de Koninklijke Scholengemeenschap), he joined the Royal Netherlands Navy as a midshipman in 1931 and subsequently attended the Royal Netherlands Naval College in Den Helder.

In 1934, he received his commission as a sub-lieutenant.

After his graduation in 1934, he served a short time in the Dutch East Indies before he entered service in the Royal Netherlands Navy Submarine Service.

On 10 May 1940 Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands and the government fled to London to escape the German occupation.

De Jong then an Lieutenant junior grade was giving a battlefield promotion and command of the nearly finished submarine HNLMS O 24 and was ordered to bring the submarine to the HMNB Portsmouth naval base in Portsmouth, England.

De Jong successfully navigated the HNLMS O 24 through English Channel and was awarded the Bronze Cross for bravery on 16 July 1940.

De Jong served as First Officer on the HNLMS O 24 from July 1940 until October 1944 fighting in the Battle of the Atlantic from July 1940 until July 1942 when the HNLMS O 24 was transferred to the British Eastern Fleet to fight in the Pacific War.

On 8 July 1943 De Jong was awarded the Bronze Cross for bravery a second time.

On 25 October 1944 De Jong was promoted to lieutenant commander and was appointment as commanding officer of the HNLMS O 24.

Under his command the HNLMS O 24 initially continued in the Pacific War.

Following the end of World War II De Jong continued to serve in the Royal Netherlands Navy holding several administrative functions.

On 14 November 1951 De Jong was appointment as commanding officer of the frigate HNLMS De Zeeuw and on 20 October 1951 De Jong was transferred to the Allied Command Channel at the HMNB Portsmouth naval base in Portsmouth, England as a senior staff officer.

In April 1953 De Jong was promoted to commander and in March 1955 De Jong was appointment as chief of staff to the Inspector General of the Navy Lieutenant admiral Prince Bernhard and as chief military adjutant and senior aide-de-camp to Queen Juliana.

It was the second time that De Jong was asked for a political office, for the Dutch general election of 1956 he was approached by Carl Romme the leader of the Catholic People's Party for a seat in the House of Representatives but De Jong respectfully declined his offer, and stated: "I don't have political ambitions, I want to become an admiral".

During that time the independence of the Royal Netherlands Navy in the Armed forces of the Netherlands was in question, the main focus of the discussion was the new command structure for all the service branches.

Both a horizontal-structure and vertical-structure had their proponents and opponents, the Royal Netherlands Navy was historically a proponent of a vertical-structure but the horizontal-structure received increasing support, including from the then Minister of War and the Navy Kees Staf.

In October 1958 De Jong was promoted to captain and appointment as commanding officer of the destroyer HNLMS Gelderland.

After the election of 1959 De Jong was unexpectedly appointed as State Secretary for Defence tasked with Naval Affairs taking office on 25 June 1959.

On 7 June 1959, during a NATO naval exercises near Scotland, De Jong received an unexpected telegram with the orders that he was to report the next day to Vice Admiral Leendert Brouwer, the Commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy himself, De Jong was summoned because of his "appointment" as State Secretary for Defence in the new Cabinet de Quay.

De Jong was airlifted from HNLMS Gelderland by helicopter and transported to the aircraft carrier HNLMS Karel Doorman.

During his premiership, his cabinet was responsible for several major reforms to education, social security, taxes, overseeing improvement in relations with the former Dutch East Indies, handling the Counterculture of the 1960s, the fallout of the Vietnam and dealing with several major crises such as the Moluccans incidents.

After the election of 1963 De Jong was appointed as Minister of Defence in the Cabinet Marijnen taking office on 24 July 1963.

The Cabinet Marijnen fell 19 months into its term and was replaced by the Cabinet Cals with De Jong continuing his office.

The Cabinet Cals fell just one year later and was replaced by the caretaker Cabinet Zijlstra and De Jong retained his position.

After the election of 1967 De Jong was elected as Member of the House of Representatives on 23 February 1967.

Following several failed coalition attempts De Jong was asked to lead a new cabinet and following a successful cabinet formation formed the Cabinet De Jong and became Prime Minister of the Netherlands taking office on 5 April 1967.

For the election of 1971 the Catholics declined to nominate De Jong as Lijsttrekker (top candidate) and shortly thereafter De Jong announced that he wouldn't stand for the election.

De Jong left office following the installation of the Cabinet Biesheuvel I on 6 July 1971.

De Jong continued to be active in politics and was elected as a Member of the Senate after the Senate election of 1971 and became Parliamentary leader serving from 11 May 1971 until 17 September 1974.

De Jong retired from active politics at 59 and became active in the private and public sectors as a corporate and non-profit director and served on several State commission (Netherlands) and councils and as a diplomat and lobbyist for several economic delegations on behalf of the government.

De Jong was known for his abilities as an effective team leader and skillful negotiator.

De Jong continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his death in July 2016 at the age of 101.

He holds the distinction as the first prime minister after World War II to complete a full term without any internal conflicts and holds the record as the second longest-lived Prime Minister, after Willem Drees, at 101 years, 141 days.

His premiership is consistently regarded both by scholars and the public to have been one of the best in Dutch history.