Lajos Dinnyés

Infobox_President
name= Lajos Dinnyés


nationality=Hungarian
order=2nd Prime Minister of the Second Hungarian Republic
term_start=May 31,1947
term_end=December 10,1948
predecessor=Ferenc Nagy
successor=István Dobi
order2 =
primeminister2 =
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primeminister3 =
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birth_date=Birth date|1901|04|16|mf=y
birth_place=Alsódabas, Austria-Hungary
death_date=Death date and age|1961|05|3|1901|04|16|mf=y
death_place=Budapest, Hungary
spouse=
party=Smallholders Party
profession=

Lajos Dinnyés (16 April 1901, Alsódabas - 1961) was a Hungarian politician of the Smallholders Party who served as the last non-communist Prime Minister of Hungary from 1947 to 1948.

Early life

He came from a well to do titled family and finished high school at Budapest Reformed Gimnazium. He finished studies at Keszthely Academy, earning a degree in agriculture. Following his father's death he looked after the family property in 1930.

Politics before World War II

He became a member of the Agrarian Party in 1929, subsequently representing the Smallholders Party after their merger in 1930. Between 1931 and 1938, he served as a Member of Parliament representing Alsódabas.

World War II

He married in 1941, held a civil post and served for a short term in the army. He returned to public life in 1945 when the Smallholders Party was reformed.

Post War

In March 1947, he became Minister of Defence in the government of Ferenc Nagy, the leader of the Smallholders Party. When Soviet-backed communists forced the Prime Minister into exile on 30 May 1947, Dinnyés was appointed as successor. In the so-called "Blue Papers Election" on 31 August 1947, the Smallholders Party came in second surpassed by the Communists. Dinnyés remained in office as Prime Minister throughout the year, but merely served as an obedient puppet in the hands of the Communist leader, Mátyás Rákosi. While retaining a nominal title as Prime Minister, Rákosi laid the foundations of the communist dictatorship by nationalizing factories, banks and denominational schools. This was well under way by 1948 when Dinnye's government fell, ostensibly as they blamed him for the emigration of the treasurer Nyaradi Miklos.

After prime ministership

He later became the director of the National Library of Agriculture and vice president of Parliament. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 he was a member of the Interim National Assembly.

Parts translated from Hungarian Wikipedia