Early life

Jan Eduard de Quay was born in ’s-Hertogenbosch on 26 August 1901. After attending a Jesuit school in Katwijk, he graduated in psychology from the University of Utrecht in 1926. The following year he was awarded a doctorate for his thesis on the contribution of sensory and motor factors to the learning and labour process.

Prime Minister of Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman and Prime Minister Jan de Quay at Airport Schiphol on 26 May 1960.

Vice President of India Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Prime Minister Jan de Quay at a meeting at the Ministry of General Affairs on 18 October 1961.

In 1928 he was appointed lecturer in psychotechnology at the Catholic college of higher education in Tilburg (now the University of Tilburg) and in 1933 professor of business economics and psychotechnology at the same institution. During the pre-war mobilisation of the Netherlands (1939-1940) De Quay became a lieutenant in the reserve. In July 1940 he formed the Triumvirate of the controversial nationalist Dutch Union with Louis Einthoven and Hans Linthorst Homan. This Union was controversial because its leaders suggested partial collaboration with the German occupiers. In August 1940 De Quay started secret meetings with the fascistic Nationaal Front in order to fuse the two organisations. During these talks De Quay called himself a fascist, the Union a fascistic organisation and said that he rejected democracy. In May and June of the same year he was government commissioner for labour at the Ministry of Social Affairs. In this position he encouraged the Dutch population to seek employment in Germany. From July 1942 to June 1943 he was interned in Haaren, after which he went into hiding from the occupation authorities. This lasted until June 1943, when he went into hiding. Following the liberation of the area south of the rivers in late 1944, he became chairman of the Board of Commissioners for Agriculture, Industry, Trade and Commerce set up to restore the national economy.^[6]

Politics

From 5 April until 23 June 1945, De Quay was Minister of War in the second Gerbrandy cabinet. On 1 November 1946 he became Queen's Commissioner of North Brabant until 19 May 1959.

He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 19 May 1959 until 24 July 1963. 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.

He served as a Member of the Senate from 25 June 1963 until 22 November 1966. During the Cabinet Zijlstra he served as Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management and Deputy Prime Minister from 22 November 1966 until 5 April 1967. On 13 June 1967 he again was a Member of the Senate until 16 September 1969.