biography
| name: |
Kleffens, Eelco Nicolaas van
|
pronunciation:
[van klefens]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1894–1983)
|
| biography:
| Dutch politician and lawyer, born in Heerenveen, N Netherlands. As a politician his main interest was in foreign policy, serving as Secretariat of the League of Nations (1919–20), member of the department of foreign affairs (1922–39) heading the diplomatic section from 1929, and minister for foreign affairs in the Dutch cabinet in exile in London (1939–46). In 1946 he represented The Netherlands at the UN, and was ambassador in the USA from 1947. In 1950 he became a minister of state and envoy in Lisbon, then chairman of the General Assembly of the UN (1954), head of the Dutch permanent representation at NATO and the OEEC in Paris, and main representative of the governing body of the ECSC in London (1958). During and after World War 2 he was largely responsible for the switch in The Netherlands from their traditional neutrality to membership of the Western alliance. |
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