Jacques Necker (30 September 1732-9 April 1804) was a Swiss-born French statesman who served as Controller-General of Finances (1777-1781, 1788-1789) and Chief Minister to the King (1788-1789, 1789-1790) under King Louis XVI of France.
Biography[]
Jacques Necker was born in Geneva, Switzerland on 30 September 1732, the son of a Protestant Prussian immigrant. He worked as a banker for years, and he became Director-General of Finances under King Louis XVI of France in 1777; because he was protestant, he could not be named "Controller". He advocated high interest rates rather than taxes, and he was popular among the Third Estate for his belief that the rich should pay more than the poor. He fell in and out of the king's favor, being removed from office in 1781 and in 1789; the starving peasants of France were angered due to his removal. In 1789, after the Storming of the Bastille, King Louis was forced to reinstate Necker as finance minister to appease the crowds. In 1790, he was dismissed by the revolutionary government as his economic reforms failed to assist the struggling economy, and he died in Coppet Castle, Switzerland on 9 April 1804.