Juozas Tūbelis (9 April 1882 in
Ilgalaukis,
Kovno Governorate
Kovno Governorate ( rus, Ковенская губеpния, r=Kovenskaya guberniya; lt, Kauno gubernija) or Governorate of Kaunas was a governorate ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. Its capital was Kaunas (Kovno in Russian). It was forme ...
– 30 September 1939,
Kaunas) was a
Lithuanian politician,
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
and member and chairman of the
Lithuanian Nationalists Union.
In 1908, he graduated from Polytechnical Institute in
Riga receiving a diploma in
agronomy. 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 the
Council of Lithuania at an education commission.
On 11 November 1918 Tūbelis became Minister of Agriculture and State Treasures. On 12 March 1919 he had to resign from the post but became Minister of Education till 19 June 1920. From September 1929 he was
Minister of Finance
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
.
He held this position until 24 March 1938. On 23 September 1929 he became the
Prime Minister of Lithuania
The prime minister of Lithuania ( lt, Ministras Pirmininkas; "Minister-Chairman") is the head of the government of Lithuania. The prime minister is Lithuania's head of government and is appointed by the president with the assent of the Lithuani ...
. He led three Minister Cabinets (the 14th, 15th and 16th) before resigning on 24 March 1938. Tūbelis was the longest standing Prime Minister of Lithuania. From March 1938 until 5 December 1938 he was Minister of Agriculture. He was also the Governor of the
Bank of Lithuania in 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
Antanas Smetona (; 10 August 1874 – 9 January 1944) was a Lithuanian intellectual and journalist and the first President of Lithuania from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1926 to 1940, before its occupation by the Soviet Union. He was one of the ...
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 the
Great Depression.
He was married to
Jadvyga Tūbelienė.
References
*
*
Juozas Tūbelis', Previous Governments: Between 1918 and 1940, Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Accessed September 7, 2006.
1882 births
1939 deaths
People from Rokiškis District Municipality
People from Kovno Governorate
Party of National Progress politicians
Lithuanian Nationalist Union politicians
Prime Ministers of Lithuania
Ministers of Agriculture of Lithuania
Ministers of Education of Lithuania
Ministers of Finance of Lithuania
Chairmen of the Bank of Lithuania
Lithuanian agronomists
Russian military personnel of World War I
Riga Technical University alumni
{{Lithuania-politician-stub