View source for Sándor Wekerle

{{Short description|Hungarian politician (1848–1921)}}
{{about|the Prime Minister of Hungary|his son|Sándor Wekerle Jr.}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name         = Sándor Wekerle
|image        = Wekerle Sándor portréja v1 (Szenes Adolf, 1894).jpg
|nationality  = [[Hungary|Hungarian]]
|order        = [[List of Prime Ministers of Hungary|Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary]]
|term_start   = 17 November 1892
|term_end     = 14 January 1895
|predecessor  = [[Gyula Szapáry]]
|successor    = [[Dezső Bánffy]]
|monarch      = [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Francis Joseph I]]
|order2       =
|term_start2  = 8 April 1906
|term_end2    = 17 January 1910
|predecessor2 = [[Géza Fejérváry]]
|successor2   = [[Károly Khuen-Héderváry]]
|monarch2     = Francis Joseph I
|order3       =
|term_start3  = 20 August 1917
|term_end3    = 30 October 1918
|predecessor3 = [[Móric Esterházy]]
|successor3   = [[János Hadik]]
|monarch3     = [[Charles I of Austria|Charles IV]]
|birth_date   = {{Birth date|df=yes|1848|11|14}}
|birth_place  = [[Mór]], [[Kingdom of Hungary]], [[Austrian Empire]]
|death_date   = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1921|08|26|1848|11|14}}
|death_place  = [[Budapest]], [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Kingdom of Hungary]]
|spouse       = Gizella Molnár
|children     = [[Sándor Wekerle the Younger|Sándor]]
|party        = [[Liberal Party (Hungary)|Liberal Party]] (1906) <br>[[National Constitution Party]] (1906–1918) <br> {{ILL|Constitution Party of '48|hu|48-as Alkotmánypárt}} (1918)
|profession   = [[Jurist]], [[Politician]]
}}
{{eastern name order|Wekerle Sándor}}
'''Sándor Wekerle''' ({{langx|en|'''Alexander Wekerle'''}}; 14 November 1848 – 26 August 1921) was a Hungarian politician who served three times as [[Prime Minister of Hungary|prime minister]]. He was the first non-noble to hold the office in Hungary.
==Biography==
He was born in [[Mór]] to a [[Danube Swabian]] family, in the comitatus of [[Fejér]].  His father Wekerle Sándor (senior) (1811–1890) served as the estate manager for the Lamberg family, his mother was Antónia Szép. He completed his secondary education at the Cistercian Saint Stephen grammar school in [[Székesfehérvár]]. After studying law at the [[ELTE Faculty of Law|Faculty of Law]] of the  [[Eötvös Loránd University|University of Budapest]] he graduated ''[[Doctor of Law|doctor juris]]''. He then entered the government service, and after a period of probation was appointed to a post in the ministry of finance. He still, however, continued an academic career by lecturing on political economy at the university.
Alongside his public offices, Sándor Wekerle was also an agricultural entrepreneur, modernizing his estates to the highest standards of the time, where he established a mill, a distillery, and an electric power plant.
In 1886 Wekerle was elected to the House of Deputies, became in the same year financial secretary of state, and in 1889 succeeded [[Kálmán Tisza]] as minister of finance. He immediately addressed himself to the task of improving the financial position of the country, carried out the conversion of the state loans, and succeeded, for the first time in the history of the Hungarian budget, in avoiding a deficit.
In November 1892 Wekerle succeeded [[Count Gyula Szapáry]] as premier, though still retaining the portfolio of finance. At the head of a strong government he was enabled, in spite of a powerful opposition of [[Catholic]]s and [[Magnate]]s, to carry in 1894 the Civil Marriage Bill. The continued opposition of the clerical party, however, brought about his resignation on 22 December 1894, when he was succeeded by [[Dezső Bánffy]]. On 1 January 1897 he was appointed president of the newly created judicial commission at [[Budapest]], and for the next few years held aloof from politics, even under the ex-lex government of [[Károly Khuen-Héderváry|Khuen-Héderváry]]. On the reconciliation of the king-emperor with the coalition he was therefore selected as the most suitable man to lead the new government, and on 8 April 1906 was appointed prime minister, taking at the same time the portfolio of finance. He resigned the premiership on 27 April 1909, but was not relieved of his office until the formation of the Khuen-Héderváry cabinet on 17 January 1910.
Wekerle returned to power in 1917, and served for the last year of the [[First World War]]. As in his 1906 to 1910 ministry, Wekerle was largely acting as a figurehead for a coalition of stronger personalities around him. Although, towards its end, the ministry began to move in the direction of an expansion of the Hungarian franchise, events, particularly the imminent military defeat of Austria-Hungary and its allies, moved too fast for it, and Wekerle resigned in October 1918.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}
During the time of the [[Hungarian Soviet Republic]], Wekerle was held prisoner as a hostage.<ref>{{Cite EB1922|wstitle=Wekerle, Alexander}}</ref>
==Legacy==
Wekerle died in Budapest, aged 72.<ref>{{cite book|author=Spencer Tucker|title=World War I: A Student Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TogXVHTlxG4C&pg=PA1916|year=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-879-8|pages=1916}}</ref>
He is credited with the introduction of money based on the gold standard in 1892.<ref>[https://tti.btk.mta.hu/images/kiadvanyok/folyoiratok/tsz/tsz2017_1/Krbin.pdf]</ref>
In the south of Budapest, the notable [[Wekerle estate]] (''Wekerletelep'') neighbourhood is named after him. Built before [[World War II]], its central square was designed by the architect [[Károly Kós]]. The neighbourhood provided affordable housing to working-class families in a green, open and familiar setting. This was an early example of a planned residential neighbourhood in Europe.
Due to the political changes that occurred after his death, Sándor Wekerle's contributions were not appropriately recognized in Hungary, neither during the interwar period nor in the post-1945 era.
Following the fall of communism in 1990, historians, financial and economic experts, as well as politicians, began to reevaluate and acknowledge his achievements as a statesman and financial expert. In 2006, the Wekerle Sándor Business School was named in his honor. In 2008, a public initiative led to the erection of his first public statue in the Wekerletelep district of Kispest. From 2011 to 2012, the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice operated a grant management institution named Wekerle Sándor Fund Management. In 2012, the Ministry of National Economy launched the "Wekerle Plan," a growth strategy for the Hungarian economy on a Carpathian Basin scale.
In Mór, the preservation of his memory was initially supported by local patriotic intellectuals. In 1988, a memorial plaque was placed at his birthplace on the initiative of the then director of the city library. In 1992, the Wekerle Sándor Association was founded. In 1990, the city's first freely elected local government restored one of its main streets with the name Wekerle Sándor. In 1993, the local government posthumously awarded him the title of honorary citizen. The modern leisure center built in 2002 in Mór also bears Wekerle Sándor's name.
In 2011, through a civic initiative involving the political leadership of Mór, civil organizations, economic stakeholders, and the local population's exemplary cooperation, a full-length public monument was erected as part of the Wekerle Memorial Year.
===Works===
*''Die passive Handelsbilanz''; Manzsche-Buchhandl, Wien, 1913
*''A háború gazdasági következményei''; Pallas, Bp., 1915 (''Hadi beszédek'')
*''Wekerle Sándor beszédei''; Középeurópai Közgazdasági Egyesület, Bp., 1918
==Notes==
{{more footnotes|date=February 2014}}
{{reflist}}
== References ==
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Wekerle, Santor}}
* {{See also|Wekerle}}
{{S-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box|title=[[Minister of Finance of Hungary|Minister of Finance]]|before=[[Kálmán Tisza]]|after=[[László Lukács]]|years=1889–1895}}
{{succession box|title=[[Prime Minister of Hungary]]|before=[[Gyula Szapáry]]|after=[[Dezso Bánffy|Dezső Bánffy]]|years=1892–1895}}
{{succession box|title=[[Prime Minister of Hungary]]|before=[[Géza Fejérváry]]|after=[[Károly Khuen-Héderváry]]|years=1906–1910}}
{{succession box|title=[[Minister of Finance of Hungary|Minister of Finance]]|before=[[Ferenc Hegedűs (politician)|Ferenc Hegedűs]]|after=[[László Lukács]]|years=1906–1910}}
{{succession box|title=[[Minister of Defence of Hungary|Minister of Defence]]<br /><small>Acting</small>|before=[[Béla Pap]]|after=[[Lajos Jekelfalussy]]|years=1906}}
{{succession box|title=[[Minister of Croatian Affairs of Hungary|Minister of Croatian Affairs]]<br /><small>Acting</small>|before=[[Stjepan Kovačević]]|after=[[Gejza Josipović]]|years=1906}}
{{succession box|title=[[Minister of Justice of Hungary|Minister of Justice]]|before=[[Antal Günther]]|after=[[Ferenc Székely]]|years=1909–1910}}
{{succession box|title=[[Prime Minister of Hungary]]|before=[[Móric Esterházy]]|after=[[János Hadik]]|years=1917–1918}}
{{succession box|title=[[Minister of Finance of Hungary|Minister of Finance]]<br /><small>Acting</small>|before=[[Gusztáv Gratz]]|after=[[Sándor Popovics]]|years=1917–1918}}
{{succession box|title=[[Minister of Agriculture of Hungary|Minister of Agriculture]]<br /><small>Acting</small>|before=[[Béla Mezőssy]]|after=[[Béla Serényi]]|years=1918}}
{{succession box|title=[[Interior Minister of Hungary|Minister of the Interior]]<br /><small>Acting</small>|before=[[János Tóth (politician)|János Tóth]]|after=[[Tivadar Batthyány]]|years=1918}}
{{S-end}}
{{HungarianPrimeMinisters}}
{{HungarianInteriorMinisters}}
{{HungarianDefenceMinisters}}
{{HungarianFinanceMinisters}}
{{HungarianJusticeMinisters}}
{{HungarianAgricultureMinisters}}
{{HungarianCroatianAffairsMinisters}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wekerle, Sandor}}
[[Category:1848 births]]
[[Category:1921 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Mór]]
[[Category:Politicians from Austria-Hungary]]
[[Category:Danube-Swabian people]]
[[Category:Hungarian-German people]]
[[Category:Liberal Party (Hungary) politicians]]
[[Category:National Constitution Party politicians]]
[[Category:Prime ministers of Hungary]]
[[Category:Interior ministers of Hungary]]
[[Category:Defence ministers of Hungary]]
[[Category:Finance ministers of Hungary]]
[[Category:Justice ministers of Hungary]]
[[Category:Agriculture ministers of Hungary]]
[[Category:Ministers of Croatian affairs of Hungary]]
[[Category:Budapest University alumni]]
[[Category:Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery]]
[[Category:Heads of government who were later imprisoned]]