Jacques Necker
Jacques Necker was France's finance minister three times, was dismissed twice, and his second dismissal triggered the storming of the Bastille. Born in Geneva in 1732, the son of a law professor, he was a Protestant and a foreigner and therefore ineligible for the office he effectively held. He made a fortune in Paris banking, partly by speculating on grain and on the American war, and bought a reputation with it — his wife's salon was among the most fashionable in the city and their daughter became Madame de Staël. He was appointed Director-General of Finances in 1777, a title invented because a Protestant could not be Controller-General. His method was borrowing rather than taxation. He financed French intervention in the American war entirely by loans, on the argument that new taxes in wartime were politically impossible, and left a debt that consumed roughly half the state's revenue in interest. In 1781 he published the Compte rendu au roi, the first public statement of royal finances ever issued in France. It showed a surplus, which required leaving out the war expenditure entirely, and it sold in enormous numbers and made him a popular hero. He was dismissed months later. He was recalled in 1788 with the treasury empty, and it was on his recommendation that the Estates-General was summoned and that the Third Estate was given double representation. Louis XVI dismissed him again on 11 July 1789. Paris rose within three days. He was recalled a third time, found himself irrelevant, and retired to Switzerland in 1790.
- Lived: 1732 CE – 1804 CE
- Nationality: French
- Roles: finance_minister, banker, reformer
