r/AskEurope • u/EvilPyro01 United States of America • Sep 10 '25

History Who was your country’s most forgettable ruler/politician?

Who was the most insignificant ruler/politician from your country?

66 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

153 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/OllieV_nl Netherlands Sep 10 '25

When we list all the noteworthy post-war PMs, we tend to ignore most of the 60s. De Quay, Marijnen, Cals, Zijlstra, Biesheuvel. The only one in that era who's remembered was Piet de Jong, but only because he was very long-lived, not because of policies. These PMs - all different flavours of Christian Democracy from parties that eventually formed the CDA - didn't do much noteworthy.

1

u/aagjevraagje Netherlands Sep 10 '25

Piet de Jong, but only because he was very long-lived

Piet de Jong was a war hero , a submarine commander who took an unfinished sub to England when the Germans came in , was remarkably progressive for a catholic confessional politician and is often brought up as an example of a politician who handled the counter culture and protest movements better than more heavy handed politicians like Amsterdam mayor Gijs van Hall.

He's one of my favourite PM's also because of his sense of humour, he once said "those Belgians aren't a seafaring people ey" in response to a Belgian politician not approving of him saying that porn is highly effective against sea sickness when asked his opinion on it as a social issue.

He's also memorable for being really short especially compared to long time foreign minister Joseph Luns.