Giuseppe Motta

Giuseppe Motta
Motta circa 1915
President of Switzerland
In office1 January 1937 – 31 December 1937
Preceded by	Albert Meyer
Succeeded by	Johannes Baumann
In office1 January 1932 – 31 December 1932
Preceded by	Heinrich Häberlin
Succeeded by	Edmund Schulthess
In office1 January 1927 – 31 December 1927
Preceded by	Heinrich Häberlin
Succeeded by	Edmund Schulthess
In office1 January 1920 – 31 December 1920
Preceded by	Gustave Ador
Succeeded by	Edmund Schulthess
In office1 January 1915 – 31 December 1915
Preceded by	Arthur Hoffmann
Succeeded by	Camille Decoppet
Swiss Federal Councillor
In office14 December 1911 – 23 January 1940
Preceded by	Josef Anton Schobinger
Succeeded by	Enrico Celio
President of the League of Nations
In office1924–1925
Preceded by	Cosme de la Torriente
Succeeded by	Raoul Dandurand
Personal details
Born	(1871-12-29)29 December 1871 Airolo, Ticino, Switzerland
Died	23 January 1940(1940-01-23) (aged 68) Bern, Switzerland
Party	Catholic Conservative Party

Giuseppe Motta (29 December 1871 – 23 January 1940) was a Swiss politician. He served as President of the Swiss Confederation 5 times.^[1] He was a member of the Swiss Federal Council (1911–1940) and President of the League of Nations (1924–1925). He was a Catholic-conservative foreign minister and a staunch opponent of communism and Stalinism.

Biography

He was born on 29 December 1871. He was elected to the Federal Council of Switzerland on 14 December 1911. Motta served 28 years in the Federal Council, the third-longest tenure to date. He was affiliated with the Catholic Conservative Party of Switzerland.

While in office he headed the Department of Finance (1912–1919)^[2] and the Political Department (1920–1940). He was elected President of the Confederation five times, in 1915, 1920, 1927, 1932 and 1937.

In 1923 the ICRC admitted the first two non-Genevans to its Assembly - Max Huber from Zürich and Motta, who was also the first Catholic.^[3] He clearly did not see any conflict of interest in combining his work with the ICRC with his continuing political career.

Motta was involved with the Federal CouncilFelix Calonder in Switzerland's accession to the League of Nations on 16 May 1920. In 1924, he became President League of Nations Assembly. At his suggestion, Switzerland was one of the few states against accepting the Soviet Union into the League of Nations.^[4] He was one of the most outspoken advocates of admission of Germany. In the Interwar Period, he pleaded for a partial departure from the Swiss neutrality principle, but spoke out from 1938 in the face of the looming Second World War again for its strict observance.^[5]

He died in office on 23 January 1940, at 68 years old.

Commemoration

Among others, via Giuseppe Motta in Lugano, Chiasso, Minusio, Mendrisio, and Massagno, Piazza Giuseppe Motta in Ascona and Avenue Giuseppe-Motta in Geneva are named for him.

His portrait was painted twice in the late 1930s by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury. The first, a large three-quarter portrait, dated 1938, hangs in the Archivio Cantonale in Bellinzona; the artist was sent a photograph by Motta at the end of 1937, and then the artist travelled to Berne in the summer of 1938 to work on the portrait from life. The second portrait, half-length seated at a desk and dated 1939, is in the Haus Muller-Lombardi in Hospental, Switzerland, as part of the Adolfo Muller-Ury Stiftung. This was exhibited at the artist's last exhibition at French and Co, New York in the spring of 1947 and returned to Switzerland after his death in July that year.

Annually since 2004, the Geneva Institute for Democracy and Development presents the Giuseppe Motta Medal to people from any country or region of the world for exceptional achievement in the promotion of peace and democracy, human rights and sustainable development.^[6]

References

1. "MOTTA, EX-RULER OF SWISS, IS DEAD; Elected President of Republic Five Times--Noted for His Writings and Oratory SPOKE THREE LANGUAGES an Ardent Champion of the League of Nations--Soviet Principles Distasteful". The New York Times. 23 January 1940.
2. "Frühere Departmentsvorsteher/Innen". Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
3. David P. Forsythe (2005). The Humanitarians. Cambridge University Press. p. 41.
4. Dietrich Dreyer: Schweizer Kreuz und Sowjetstern, 1989
5. Die kleine Enzyklopädie, Encyclios-Verlag, Zürich, 1950, Band 2, Seite 204
6. Giuseppe Motta Medal WebsiteArchived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• "Giuseppe Motta" in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
• Profile of Giuseppe Motta with election results on the website of the Swiss Federal Council.
• Giuseppe Motta in the Dodis database of the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland
• Newspaper clippings about Giuseppe Motta in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW