19 Facts About Jo Cals

Jozef Maria Laurens Theo "Jo" Cals was a Dutch politician of the Catholic People's Party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 14 April 1965 until 22 November 1966.

Jo Cals studied law at the Radboud University Nijmegen obtaining a Master of Laws degree and worked as a lawyer and prosecutor in Nijmegen from November 1940 until August 1948 and as researcher at his alma mater from February 1941 until May 1949.

Jo Cals worked as a legal and economics teacher in Roermond from October 1943 until June 1945.

Jo Cals became a member of the House of Representatives shortly after 1948 general election taking office on 19 August 1948 serving as a frontbencher and spokesperson for education and social work.

The third Drees cabinet fell on 11 December 1958 and was replaced by the caretaker second Beel cabinet, with Jo Cals continuing his function.

Jo Cals became active in the public sector as a non-profit director and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government.

Jo Cals left office upon the installation of the caretaker Zijlstra cabinet on 22 November 1966 and announced his retirement.

Jo Cals semi-retired from active politics at just 52 and became active in the private and public sectors as a corporate and non-profit director, and served as a diplomat and lobbyist for several economic delegations and presided over several state commissions and councils for the government.

Jo Cals was known for his abilities as a efficient manager and his work ethics.

Jo Cals was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 5 December 1966 and continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until he was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor and died in December 1971 at the age of just 57.

Jo Cals holds the distinction of as the fourth longest-serving cabinet member since 1850 with 14 years and 353 days and his premiership is consistently considered both by scholars and the public to have been average.

Jozef Maria Laurens Theo Jo Cals was born in Roermond on 18 July 1914.

In 1945 Jo Cals became leader of the Catholic People's Party in the municipal council of Nijmegen until 1946.

Jo Cals was elected to the House of Representatives in 1948.

Jo Cals became Minister of Education, Arts and Sciences serving from 2 September 1952 until 24 July 1963 in the cabinets Drees II and III, Beel II and De Quay, he helped pass the Mammoetwet, a law that transformed secondary education.

Jo Cals was in 1930, just after the foundation as a separate Scouting organisation, one of the first members of De Katholieke Verkenners.

Jo Cals went to the 4th World Scout Jamboree in Godollo, Hungary in 1933.

Between 1968 and 1970, Jo Cals was in charge of the Dutch entry to the Expo '70 in Japan.

Jo Cals was a hard worker but this was at the expense of his health, he died from a brain tumor in the MCH Westeinde hospital in The Hague on 30 December 1971 at the age of 57.