Konstantinos Mitsotakis

Konstantinos Mitsotakis (1918-2017) was born on October 18, 1918, in Chania, Crete. Coming from a Cretan family with a strong political tradition, he was the nephew of Eleftherios Venizelos. He studied law, political science, and economics at the University of Athens. He participated in World War II as a Reserve Second Lieutenant in Macedonia and in the Resistance as a leading member of the National Organization of Crete. For his actions, he was imprisoned and sentenced to death twice. During his second imprisonment, he was saved through an exchange with German prisoners. After the Occupation, he was elected for the first time as a Member of Parliament for Chania with the Liberal Party. He continued his political career with the Liberal Party or the Center Parties until the coup of 1967. He served as Deputy Minister of Finance in 1951 in the Plastiras government. Later, he also held the ministries of Transport and Public Works. He was a founding member of the Center Union, participating in the so-called Relentless Struggle of 1961-63 against the 1961 government of Konstantinos Karamanlis, which led the centrist faction to power. He served as Minister of Finance in the Center Union governments in 1963 and 1964. In July 1965, disagreeing with Georgios Papandreou, he left the Center Union along with other members (who were labeled as Apostates by their faction) and participated in the governments of Athanasiadis-Novas, Tsirimokos, and Stefanopoulos as Minister of Coordination. On the night of the colonels' coup on April 21, 1967, he was arrested. In August, he secretly fled with the final destination being Paris, where he remained in exile for the next six years. He collaborated closely with Konstantinos Karamanlis and returned to Greece with the lifting of martial law in 1973. He was imprisoned again by the Ioannidis regime in Chania prisons. He was released with the restoration of democracy and the return of Konstantinos Karamanlis to Greece. In 1977, he was elected as a Member of Parliament, leading the small centrist party of the Neoliberals. In 1978, he joined New Democracy and took over the Ministry of Coordination. In 1980, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Rallis government until the 1981 elections. Subsequently, he served as the parliamentary representative of New Democracy until 1984, when he was elected party president. In the June 1989 elections, New Democracy was elected as the first party with 44.2% but did not achieve an absolute majority. Negotiations with the Coalition led to the Tzannetakis government. In November 1989, the lack of an absolute majority led to the Zolotas universal government. He was sworn in as Prime Minister in 1990 after New Democracy's victory in the elections with 46.88%. After the early elections of October 1993 and New Democracy's defeat, he resigned as Prime Minister and party president. On November 3, 1993, he was awarded the title of honorary president of New Democracy. After the 2004 elections, he ceased to run as a Member of Parliament. In November 1998, he founded the non-profit organization "Konstantinos Mitsotakis Historical Archive," which evolved into the Konstantinos Mitsotakis Foundation, established by presidential decree in April 2001. In 2000, he donated his collection of archaeological finds to the Archaeological Museum of Chania, which has since been housed in a special room bearing his name. In October 2005, the "Konstantinos K. Mitsotakis Chair of Hellenic Studies" was established in his honor. Mitsotakis held a position at the School of Humanities at Stanford University in the USA, thanks to a donation from a family of Greek expatriates. He had four children with his wife since 1953, Marika Giannoukou-Mitsotakis (1930-2012): Kyriakos Mitsotakis (who became the president of New Democracy following the internal party elections in January 2016), Dora Bakoyannis, Alexandra Mitsotakis, and Aikaterini Mitsotakis. He passed away in Athens on May 29, 2017, at the age of 98.