Max Steenberghe
 Max Steenberghe    (  politician,  businessman) | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Steenberghe in 1939 | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | 2 May 1899 Leiden, Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | 22 January 1972 (Age 72) Goirle, Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Dutch | ||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Utrecht University | ||||||||||||||||
| Religion |  Catholic | ||||||||||||||||
Dutch Catholic conservative politician and businessman who attended the first Bilderberg.
| |||||||||||||||||
Maximilien Paul Léon Steenberghe was a Dutch politician and businessman who attended the 1954 and 1956 Bilderberg meetings.
Contents
Education
Steenberghe studied law at the University of Utrecht. He completed his education in 1920.
Career
Pre-war career
Subsequently, he worked in the textile industry, in which over time he took a leading position. In addition, he published writings on economic topics. He also sat on the board of various economic organizations and was a member of the Dutch Group of the International Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Catholic Employers' Association (1930 to 1934).
In June 1934, Steenberghe took over the post of Minister of Economy in the Colijn government, from which he resigned in June 1935 because his demand to devalue the Dutch currency was rejected by the cabinet.
When the gold standard was let go at the end of 1936, Steenberghe came back into the cabinet as Minister of economic affairs in June 1937. In that position, Steenberghe also joined the Cabinet De Geer, which was formed in August 1939 and which had to declare general mobilization a few days later due to the outbreak of World War II.[1]
World War 2
In May 1940, the Queen and Cabinet went to London. Steenberghe was not initially among the ministers who were in favor of a flight abroad. He and the then Minister of agriculture remained in The Hague, when the rest of the Cabinet was already ready to cross to England,but were finally persuaded to join their colleagues.
As minister in London, he initiated the establishment of stocks of goods in the United States to serve after the war for a quick supply of the Netherlands, as indeed happened. Relations in the cabinet were far from good. De Geer proved unable to cope with the task of war leader and felt homesick in London. Steenberghe initially shared his doubts as to whether continuing the war after the defeat of France in June 1940 made sense. In this respect, he was at odds with ideological hardliners like Gerbrandy and Queen Wilhelmina. After the Battle of Britain, doubts about whether to continue the war also disappeared at Steenberghe. His conflict with Prime Minister Gerbrandy, which also had personal sides, led to his resignation as minister in November 1941.[1]
During the war, Steenberghe was put in charge of the Economic, Financial and shipping Committee that would represent the interests involved on behalf of the Dutch government in the United States. In that capacity he also represented the Dutch government at conferences in North America during the war.[1]
Post-war career
After the war, Steenberghe was a special adviser to the Dutch government, as well as a member of the supervisory boards of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company and the Shell Petroleum Company.[1]
In the 1950s he was also president-curator of the Katholieke Economische Hogeschool in Tilburg, whose alumni have held influential positions in Dutch politics at that time and later. For Steenberghe himself, active politics was already a closed book.[1]
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/1954 | 29 May 1954 | 31 May 1954 | Netherlands Hotel Bilderberg Oosterbeek | The first Bilderberg meeting, attended by 68 men from Europe and the US, including 20 businessmen, 25 politicians, 5 financiers & 4 academics. |
| Bilderberg/1956 | 11 May 1956 | 13 May 1956 | Denmark Fredensborg | The 4th Bilderberg meeting, with 147 guests, in contrast to the generally smaller meetings of the 1950s. Has two Bilderberg meetings in the years before and after |
