Sicco Mansholt

Sicco Leendert Mansholt (Dutch: [ˈsɪkoː ˈleːndərt ˈmɑnsɦɔlt]; 13 September 1908 – 29 June 1995) was a Dutch farmer, politician and diplomat of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) and later the Labour Party (PvdA), who served as the fourth president of the European Commission from 1 March 1972 until 5 January 1973.

Sicco Mansholt
Mansholt in 1962
President of the European Commission
In office 22 March 1972 – 5 January 1973
Vice President	Wilhelm Haferkamp
Preceded by	Franco Maria Malfatti
Succeeded by	François-Xavier Ortoli
First Vice-President of the European Commission
In office 7 January 1958 – 22 March 1972
President	See list Walter Hallstein (1958–1967) Jean Rey (1967–1970) Franco Maria Malfatti (1970–1972)
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Wilhelm Haferkamp
European Commissioner for Agriculture
In office 7 January 1958 – 22 March 1972
President	See list Walter Hallstein (1958–1967) Jean Rey (1967–1970) Franco Maria Malfatti (1970–1972)
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Carlo Scarascia-Mugnozza
Minister of Economic Affairs
In office 14 January 1948 – 20 January 1948 Ad interim
Prime Minister	Louis Beel
Preceded by	Gerardus Huysmans
Succeeded by	Jan van den Brink
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 3 July 1956 – 3 October 1956
In office 15 July 1952 – 7 September 1952
In office 27 July 1948 – 10 August 1948
In office 4 June 1946 – 18 July 1946
Parliamentary group	Labour Party
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies
In office 25 June 1945 – 1 January 1958
Prime Minister	See list Willem Schermerhorn (1945–1946) Louis Beel (1946–1948) Willem Drees (1948–1958)
Preceded by	Hans Gispen as Minister of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Jim de Booy as Minister of Shipping
Succeeded by	Kees Staf (ad interim)
Mayor of Wieringermeer
In office 30 April 1945 – 22 May 1945 Ad interim
Preceded by	Aris Saal
Succeeded by	Gerrit Gesenius Loggers
Personal details
Born	Sicco Leendert Mansholt (1908-09-13)13 September 1908 Ulrum, Netherlands
Died	29 June 1995(1995-06-29) (aged 86) Wapserveen, Netherlands
Political party	Labour Party (1946–1995)
Other political affiliations	Social Democratic Workers' Party (1937–1946)
Spouse	Henny Postel ​ (m. 1938)​
Children	2 sons and 2 daughters
Alma mater	National Higher Agricultural School (Bachelor of Science in Agriculture)
Occupation	Politician · Diplomat · Civil servant · Agronomist · Farmer · Lobbyist

Mansholt worked as a farmer in Wieringermeer from 1937 until 1945. In 1940, during World War II, he joined the Dutch resistance against the German occupiers and helped shelter refugees. Following the end of World War II, Mansholt was appointed as acting Mayor of Wieringermeer, serving from 30 April 1945 until 22 May 1945. After the end of the German occupation, Queen Wilhelmina ordered the formation of a Cabinet of National unity to serve as a caretaker government and make preparations for a new election, and Mansholt was appointed as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies in the Cabinet Schermerhorn–Drees, taking office on 25 June 1945. Mansholt was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 1946, taking office on 4 June 1946. He continued as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies in the Cabinet Beel I, taking office on 3 July 1946, then served as acting Minister of Economic Affairs from 14 January 1948 until 20 January 1948 following the resignation of Gerardus Huysmans. After the election of 1948 Mansholt returned as a Member of the House of Representatives on 27 July 1948, and continued as Minister in the Cabinet Drees–Van Schaik, taking office on 7 August 1948. Mansholt served continuously as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies in the Drees Cabinets I, II and III, and also served as a Member of the House of Representatives after the elections of 1952 and 1956, serving from 15 July 1952 until 7 September 1952 and from 3 July 1956 until 3 October 1956.

In December 1957, Mansholt was nominated as the first European Commissioner from the Netherlands in the First Hallstein Commission. Lardinois was giving the portfolio of Agriculture and was appointed as the first Vice-President of the European Commission. He resigned as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies on 1 January 1958 and the First Hallstein Commission was installed on 7 January 1958. Mansholt continued to serve as European Commissioner for Agriculture and vice-president in the Second Hallstein Commission, the Rey Commission and the Malfatti Commission. In February 1972 Mansholt was nominated as the next President of the European Commission. The Mansholt Commission was installed on 1 March 1972 and oversaw the creation of the European Monetary System on 24 April 1972 and the first enlargement on 1 January 1973. The Mansholt Commission was succeeded by the Ortoli Commission on 5 January 1973.

After his retirement, Mansholt occupied numerous seats as a nonprofit director for supervisory boards for several international non-governmental organizations and research institutes (Institute of International Relations Clingendael, European Centre for Development Policy Management, Netherlands Atlantic Association, Transnational Institute, Club of Rome, Humanistic Association, Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities and the Carnegie Foundation) and as an advocate and lobbyist for European integration and humanism. He was known for his abilities as a negotiator and manager. Mansholt continued to comment on political affairs as an elder statesman until his death. He holds the distinction of being the longest-serving Minister of Agriculture, the longest-serving European Commissioner from the Netherlands, the longest-serving European Commissioner for Agriculture and the only Dutchman to have served as President of the European Commission. He is recognized as one of the Founding fathers of the European Union.

Early life and studies

Sicco Leendert Mansholt was born on 13 September 1908 in Ulrum, in the province of Groningen, Netherlands. Mansholt came from a socialist farmer's family in the province of Groningen. Both his father and grandfather were supporters of early socialist leaders such as Multatuli, Domela Nieuwenhuis, and Troelstra. His father, Lambertus H. Mansholt, was a delegate for the socialist SDAP party in the Groningen provincial chamber. His mother, Wabien Andreae, daughter of a judge in Heerenveen, was one of the first women to have studied political science. She organised political meetings for other women, usually in their own homes. Together with two brothers and two sisters, Mansholt was raised at "Huis ter Aa", a grand villa in Glimmen. He attended the HBS-school in Groningen and after that went to Deventer, to the School of Tropical Agriculture, where he studied to become a tobacco farmer.

Agriculture

Mansholt moved to Java in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia), and started work on a tea plantation. He returned to the Netherlands in 1936, unhappy with the colonial system. He wanted to become a farmer and moved to the Wieringermeer, a polder, reclaimed in 1937. There he started his own farm.

Mansholt married Henny J. Postel in 1938, and they had two sons and two daughters. In the years of World War II, he was an active member of the Resistance. He helped people who were in acute danger to hide in the Wieringermeerpolder; he organised clandestine food distributions for the western provinces.

United States Ambassador to the Netherlands Stanley Hornbeck, former President of the United States Herbert Hoover and Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Supplies Sicco Mansholt at Airport Schiphol on 8 April 1946.

Politics

Local politics

Mansholt became a member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) in 1937, as a secretary of the local party. He had several public functions for the SDAP in Wieringermeer, including that of acting mayor of the Wieringermeer community.

Minister of Agriculture

Immediately after the war, in June 1945, Labour Party (PvdA) Prime Minister Schermerhorn asked him to take a seat in his cabinet as minister of Agriculture, Fishery and Food Distribution. He was the youngest member of a cabinet, aged only 36.

Mansholt was a member of six cabinets in total: Schermerhorn-Drees in 1945; Beel in 1946; Drees-Van Schaik in 1948, and the three Drees administrations: 1951, 1952 and 1956. As Minister of Agriculture during this time, he was one of the key architects of the EC's Common Agricultural Policy. In 1954 the parliamentary debate about the budget for the Department of Agriculture was postponed: the Minister was ice-skating the 200 kilometer long Elfstedentocht in the Dutch province of Friesland, which he skated twice in his life.

European Commission

In 1958, Mansholt became one of the Commissioners of the new European Commission. He was Commissioner for Agriculture and vice-president of the institution. He modernized European agriculture. The Mansholt Plan was opposed by E. F. Schumacher in his book Small Is Beautiful.

Mansholt became President of the European Commission on 22 March 1972 (the Mansholt Commission) and continued in that position until 5 January 1973. It was around that time he was heavily under the influence of the Club of Rome.

Life after politics

Mansholt published his autobiography De Crisis ("The Crisis") in 1974. He lived his last years in an old historic farm in the quiet village of Wapserveen, where he died on 29 June 1995. His daughter Lideke also died in 1995, aged 53.

Decorations

Military decorations
Ribbon bar	Decoration	Country	Date	Comment
	Resistance Memorial Cross	Netherlands	30 April 1982
Honours
Ribbon bar	Honour	Country	Date	Comment
	Grand Cross of the Order of the Oak Crown	Luxembourg	8 March 1957
	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau	Netherlands	22 December 1958
	Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown	Belgium	18 October 1968
	Commander of the Order of Agricultural Merit	France	15 January 1970
	Grand Cross of the Order of Merit	Germany	5 May 1972
	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion	Netherlands	18 December 1972	Elevated from Knight (25 June 1955)
	Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour	France	1 January 1973

Honorary degrees

Honorary degrees
University	Field	Country	Date	Comment
Wageningen University	Agronomy	Netherlands	9 October 1956

External links

Official

• (in Dutch) Dr. S.L. (Sicco) Mansholt Parlement & Politiek