18 Facts About Jelle Zijlstra

The Drees III cabinet fell on 11 December 1958 and was replaced by the caretaker Beel II cabinet, with Jelle Zijlstra retaining his position and becoming Minister of Finance taking office on 22 December 1958.

In September 1962 Jelle Zijlstra announced that he would not stand for the 1963 general election, and declined to serve in the new cabinet.

Jelle Zijlstra returned as a distinguished professor of public economics at the Vrije Universiteit and was elected to the Senate after the 1963 Senate election, taking office on 25 June 1963 and serving as a frontbencher and spokesperson for finance.

Jelle Zijlstra served as director of the Abraham Kuyper Foundation from August 1963 until November 1966.

Jelle Zijlstra continued to be active in politics and in September 1966 was nominated as the next president of De Nederlandsche Bank, the country's central bank.

Jelle Zijlstra formed the caretaker Jelle Zijlstra cabinet and took office as Prime Minister of the Netherlands and minister of finance on 22 November 1966.

Jelle Zijlstra left office following the installation of the De Jong cabinet on 5 April 1967 and was confirmed as chief of De Nederlandsche Bank, serving from 1 May 1967 until 1 January 1982.

Jelle Zijlstra retired from active politics at 63 and became active in the private and public sectors as a corporate and non-profit director and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government, and continued to be active in advocating for a balanced governmental budget.

Jelle Zijlstra was known for his abilities as a skilful manager and effective debater.

Jelle Zijlstra was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 30 April 1983 and continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his death from dementia-related illness at the age of 83.

Jelle Zijlstra holds the distinction as the shortest-serving Prime Minister after World War II and his premiership is therefore usually omitted both by scholars and the public in rankings but his legacy as a minister in the 1950s and 60s and later as president of De Nederlandsche Bank continue to this day.

Jelle Zijlstra's studies were interrupted twice: first by his period of military service and later when he had to go into hiding in 1942 after refusing to sign the loyalty oath required of students by the Nazi occupation authorities.

Immediately after graduating, Jelle Zijlstra became a research assistant at the Netherlands School of Economics and was promoted a year later to senior research assistant and in 1947 to lecturer.

In 1973 Jelle Zijlstra became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Jelle Zijlstra has sat on many boards in the public and private sectors.

On 11 March 1946, Jelle Zijlstra married his childhood sweetheart Hetty Bloksma.

Jelle Zijlstra died in Wassenaar on 23 December 2001 at the age of eighty-three Zijlstra, and was buried at the cemetery of the local Reformed Church in Wassenaar.

Jelle Zijlstra's younger brother Rinse Zijlstra was a member of the House of Representatives, serving from 23 February 1967 until 10 May 1971 and a Senator serving from 12 April 1983 until 13 June 1995 for the Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Christian Democratic Appeal.