Succeeded by Theo Bot Preceded by New office | Name Theo Bot | |
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Succeeded by Isaac Arend Diepenhorst | ||
Theodorus Hendrikus "Theo" Bot (29 July 1911 – 24 September 1984) was a Dutch politician of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) party. He served as Minister of Education, Culture and Science from 24 July 1963 until 14 April 1965 in the Marijnen cabinet.
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Early life
Bot was born on 29 July 1911 in Dordrecht, as one of three sons of Maria Theresia Frederica Creemers and Lourens Bot, a German language teacher. From 1923 to 1930 he went to the "Gemeentelijk Gymnasium" high school in Apeldoorn, and studied Indonesian law at Utrecht University from 1930 to September 1936. He also followed an education at the "School voor Reserve-Officieren der Bereden-Artillerie" (English: School for Reserve-Officers of the Horse-Artillery) in Ede.
Civil service
From 1936 to 1942 Bot was sent out for the civil service to the Dutch East Indies and would serve with the east-Asian service in Batavia, Purwakarta and Soekaboemi. During World War II he was in active service from 1940 to 8 March 1942 in the rank of reserve-first lieutenant of the horse-artillery. Afterwards he was a Japanese warprisoner at camps in Java, Birma and Thailand, until 30 September 1945, and worked on the Burma Railway. After the war he returned to the Netherlands in 1946, where he functioned in several functions related to the Dutch East Indies.
Politics
Bot served as State Secretary of the Interior, in charge of matters concerning Netherlands New Guinea, from 23 November 1959 until 24 July 1963 in the De Quay cabinet. He was shortly a member of the House of Representatives from 2 July until 24 July 1963 when he became Minister of Education, Culture and Science in the Marijnen cabinet. He finally served as Minister without portfolio in charge of matters concerning development aid, from 14 April 1965 until 5 April 1967, in the Cals and Zijlstra cabinets.
After his membership of the cabinet he was appointed Dutch ambassador in Ottawa, Canada in September 1967, serving from 17 January 1968 until July 1973. Consequently he became ambassador in Vienna, Austria, and permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency from July 1973 until 1 August 1976.
Other functions
Private life
In 1936 he married Elisabeth W. van Hal. They had seven children. He is the father of Ben Bot, who would become minister of foreign affairs.