Synopsis
Politician and a diplomat
First name
Eric Hendrik
Last name
Louw
Date of birth
1890
Date of death
1968
Louw was a politician and a diplomat. During the 1930s, he was South Africa’s first ambassador to the United States and the League of Nations.
Eric Louw was born in 1890. When the National Party formed its first government in 1948 he became Minister of Economic Affairs. He was appointed to the finance portfolio in 1955, became Minister of Foreign Affairs two years later, and represented South Africa at the United Nations. He accompanied H.F. Verwoerd to the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ conference in London, at which South Africa’s membership of the Commonwealth was withdrawn. He resigned from the Cabinet in 1961.