- Juozas Tūbelis
Juozas Tūbelis (born
April 9 1882 in Ilgalaukis, nearRokiškis ; diedSeptember 30 1939 inKaunas ) was aLithuania n politician, Prime Minister and member and chairman of theLithuanian Nationalists Union .In 1908, he graduated from Politechnical Institute in
Riga receiving a diploma inagronomy . Not being able to find employment in his field, for another two years he worked in Riga as a teacher and then on land exploitation projects. In 1915, he was drafted to the Russian army. He was able to assist Lithuanian Central Relief Committee which helped out refugees and others suffering from war. He traveled across Russia and in 1918 he returned to Lithuania, and worked for theCouncil of Lithuania at an education commission.On
November 11 1918 , Tūbelis became Minister of Agriculture and State Treasures. OnMarch 12 1919 he had to resign from the post but became Minister of Education tillJune 19 1920 . FromMay 3 1927 he was Minister of Finances. He held this position untilMarch 24 1938 . OnSeptember 23 1929 he became thePrime Minister of Lithuania . He lead three Minister Cabinets (the 14th, 15th and 16th) before resigning onMarch 24 1938 . Tūbelis was the longest standing Prime Minister of Lithuania. From March 1938 untilDecember 5 1938 he was Minister of Agriculture. He was also directing theBank of Lithuania in 1938-1939.Between political roles, Tūbelis helped to establish and direct large enterprises like "Lietūkis" (est. in 1923), "Maistas" (est. in 1925), and "Pienocentras" (est. in 1926).
After the coup d'état in 1926, his brother-in-law
Antanas Smetona became the president. Since the two men agreed on political views, Tūbelis became the second most powerful man in Lithuania in the 1930s. He is credited for stable economy, national currency litas, and small foreign debt despite theGreat Depression .References
* |pages=503-504
*lt icon " [http://www.lrv.lt/buvusios_vyr/ankstesni_MP/J.Tubelis.htm Juozas Tūbelis] ", Previous Governments: Between 1918-1940, Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Accessed September 7, 2006.
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