monarch predecessor successor death_date birth_place death_place party office birth_date term_start article_title term_end name alma_mater
baudouin joseph pholien achille van acker 23 may 1991 ghent , belgium ghent , belgium christian social party prime minister of belgium 17 march 1907 15 january 1952 jean van houtte
 23 april 1954 jean van houtte university of liège
jean van houtte

jean marie joseph , baron van houtte -lrb- 17 march 1907 -- 23 may 1991 -rrb- was a belgian politician .
born in ghent , van houtte held a doctorate in law and lectured at ghent university and the university of liège .
he served as chairman of the belgian institute of public finance and represented the psc-cvp in the belgian senate from 1949 to 1968 .
having served as finance minister in the governments of jean duvieusart -lrb- 1950 -rrb- and joseph pholien -lrb- 1950 -- 1952 -rrb- , van houtte replaced pholien to become the 38th prime minister of belgium in january 1952 .
his period in office was marked by disputes over conscription , and in particular the length of service of conscripts , and over the treatment of collaborators , where van houtte controversially favoured a mild approach .
an economic recession added to his troubles .
van houtte again served as finance minister from 1958 to 1961 under gaston eyskens .
he was governor of the world bank , named an honorary minister of state in 1966 , and made a baron in 1970 .
