Poul Hansen

Who was Poul Hansen?

Hans Christian Poul Hansen, simply known as Poul Hansen, was a Danish politician, who served as Defence Minister of Denmark from 1956 to 1962 and Danish Minister of Finance from 1962 to 1965. He represented the Social Democrats in the Folketinget parliament for 21 years.

From 1937 to 1942, Hansen served as chairman of the Social Democratic Youth of Denmark, and he later worked as a journalist for a Social Democratic newspaper. In 1945, he was elected to the Danish Folketinget parliament. Hansen was named Defence Minister by Prime Minister of Denmark H. C. Hansen on May 25, 1956, replacing Rasmus Hansen. In the subsequent governments of Viggo Kampmann and Jens Otto Krag, Poul Hansen retained this position. On November 15, 1962, Hansen moved from his position as Defence Minister to replace the recently deceased Hans R. Knudsen as Minister of Finance. As Jens Otto Krag did not have a Danish Minister of Economic Affairs ready for his newly elected government on September 26, 1964, Hansen served as interim Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs both for two weeks, until Henry Grünbaum was named permanent Minister of Economic Affairs on October 8, 1964.