Franz Jonas (1899-1974)
Federal President from 1965 to 1974
Born in Vienna, Jonas trained as a
typesetter and proofreader. After
rising in the trade union movement, he was appointed
Secretary to the Social
Democratic Party in 1932. From
1935 to 1936, he was
imprisoned. After the Second
World War, he took an active part
in the reconstruction of Vienna,
at the same pursuing
his career in the Socialist Party. In 1951, he succeeded Theodor Körner as Mayor of Vienna. On 23 May 1965,
the people of Austria
elected him Federal President. He
was re-elected on 25 April 1971.W hen the Austrian
“Grand Coalition” broke up after two decades, he accepted
a one-party government formed by the Austrian
People’s Party (ÖVP) in 1966 and later, in 1970, endorsed
the Socialist minority government which ushered in the subsequent period of Socialist majorities from 1971. Franz
Jones died on 24 April 1974.
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