Hussein Al Oweini

{{Short description|Lebanese politician and businessman (1900–1971)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = حسين العويني.jpg

| imagesize =

| office1 = Interim Prime Minister of Lebanon

| term_start1 = 14 February 1951

| term_end1 = 7 April 1951

| president1 = Bechara El Khoury

| predecessor1 = Riad Al Solh

| successor1 = Abdullah Arif Yafi

| office = Prime Minister of Lebanon

| term_start = 20 February 1964

| term_end = 25 July 1965

| president = Fouad Chehab
Charles Helou

| predecessor = Rashid Karami

| successor = Rashid Karami

| birth_date = {{birth date|1900|12|24|df=y}}

| birth_place = Beirut, Ottoman Empire

| death_date = {{death date and age|1971|01|11|1900|12|24|df=y}}

| death_place = Beirut, Lebanon

| spouse = Chafica Jaroudi

| signature = Hussein Al Oweini signature.svg

}}

Hussein Al Oweini ({{langx|ar|حسين العويني}}; 24 December 1900 – 11 January 1971) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as Prime Minister of Lebanon twice.{{cite journal|author=Elie Salem|title=Cabinet Politics in Lebanon|journal=The Middle East Journal|date=Autumn 1967|volume=21|issue=4|page=490|jstor=4324201|author-link=Elie Salem}} He also held other cabinet positions.

Early life

Oweini was born in 1900.{{cite web|title=Rulers of Lebanon|work=Jewish Library|access-date=8 April 2013

|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/arabs/lebrule.html}} He hailed from a Sunni family based in Beirut.{{cite book|author=R. Hrair Dekmejian|title=Patterns of Political Leadership: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon|isbn=978-0-87395-291-0

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MCVgiW9KDh8C&pg=PA33|year=1975|publisher=SUNY Press|page=33|location=Albany, NY}}

Career

Oweini worked in Saudi Arabia as a business agent for the House of Saud from 1923 to 1947.{{cite news|author=Saad Mehio|title=Prime Minister Alwaleed bin Talal? For what?|newspaper=The Daily Star|date=9 July 2002|access-date=18 July 2013

|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/Jul/09/Prime-Minister-Alwaleed-bin-Talal-For-what.ashx#axzz2ZQEiKeb1}} He founded a company, Ne'ma Te'ma, in Riyadh.{{cite news|title=Riyadh's guest|url=http://www.ainalyaqeen.com/issues/20000421/feat1en.htm|work=Ain Al Yaqeen|date=21 April 2000|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130628092901/http://www.ainalyaqeen.com/issues/20000421/feat1en.htm|url-status=dead |archive-date=28 June 2013|access-date=8 April 2013}} He had also business investments in Beirut and was one of the shareholders of Air Liban through the Busson Group.{{cite book|author=Fawwaz Traboulsi|title=A History of Modern Lebanon|year=2012|publisher=Pluto Press|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183p4f5|location=London|isbn=9780745332741|pages=119–120

|edition=2nd|doi=10.2307/j.ctt183p4f5|jstor=j.ctt183p4f5}} The other members of the Busson Group included Antoine Sahnawi, Michel Khattar, and Georges Karam. Oweini was also one of the owners of a local insurance company which was the representative of the French insurance company Union Nationale.

Oweini was the minister of finance from July 1948 to June 1951.{{Cite web|archive-date=18 December 2019

|url=http://www.finance.gov.lb/en-us/About/Minister/Pages/Former-Ministers.aspx|title=Former Ministers|date=18 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191218051220/http://www.finance.gov.lb/en-us/About/Minister/Pages/Former-Ministers.aspx}} He was first appointed interim prime minister on 14 February 1951 under President Bechara El Khoury{{cite news|author=Wassim Mroueh|title=Looking back on almost 7 decades of Cabinet crises|newspaper=The Daily Star|date=14 June 2011

|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Jun-14/Looking-back-on-almost-7-decades-of-Cabinet-crises.ashx#axzz2PtI5l2yM|access-date=8 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614202745/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Jun-14/Looking-back-on-almost-7-decades-of-Cabinet-crises.ashx#axzz2PtI5l2yM|location=Beirut|archive-date=14 June 2011|url-status=dead}} succeeding Riad Al Solh in the post.{{cite thesis|author=Hani A. Bazzi|title=The Lebanese Executive between 1934 and 1963|degree=MA|year=1964|location=American University of Beirut|page=43|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2323545294|id={{ProQuest|2323545294}}}}{{cite journal|issue=2

|title=Developments of the Quarter: Comment and Chronology|journal=The Middle East Journal|date=Spring 1951|volume=5|page=209|jstor=4322271}} Oweini was in office until 7 April 1951 and succeeded by Abdullah Yafi. In 1951 Oweini cofounded BLOM Bank in Lebanon.{{cite book|author=Joseph Daher|title=Lebanon, how the post-war's political economy led to the current economic and social crisis|website=European University Institute|page=14|year=2022|issue=3|publisher=Publications Office |hdl=1814/73856|doi=10.2870/824020|isbn=9789294661791|format=Report

|url=https://hdl.handle.net/1814/73856}}

On 27 September 1957, Oweini and two other former prime ministers, Saeb Salam and Abdallah El-Yafi, were arrested on charges of planning an armed coup and riots during the elections held in May.{{cite book|author=Samir Khalaf|title=Civil and Uncivil Violence in Lebanon: A History of the Internationalization of Communal Contact|author-link=Samir Khalaf|publisher=Columbia University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10R4ol9rSuAC&pg=PA111|year=2002|isbn=978-0-231-50536-9|page=111|location=New York}} Oweini's second term as prime minister was from 20 February 1964 to 25 July 1965 under President Charles Helou.{{cite news|author=George W. Cornell|title=Welcome Pope|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mfpiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qm0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1623,185065&dq=hussein+al+oweini&hl=en

|access-date=8 April 2013|newspaper=The Evening News|date=2 December 1964|agency=AP|location=Bombay}}{{cite web|title=Bridge stamps of Lebanon|url=http://www.bridgeguys.com/SGlossary/StampsLebanon.html|work=Bridge Guys|access-date=8 April 2013|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231345/http://www.bridgeguys.com/SGlossary/StampsLebanon.html|url-status=dead}} Both his predecessor and successor was Rashid Karami as prime minister. Oweini was the leader of the National Front.{{cite news|author=Wilton Wynn|title=Lebanon leader predicts US troop removal|agency=Associated Press|access-date=8 April 2013|date=22 July 1958|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19580722&id=n5laAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Z0sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5423,737149|newspaper=Ellensburg Daily Record|location=Beirut}} He also served as the minister of foreign affairs and emigrants for three separate terms, from 1958 to 1960, in 1965, and 1968 to 1969. During his third term as foreign minister, Oweini also acted as minister of national defense.{{cite news|title=New peace plan for Middle East offered|date=2 January 1969|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=740bAAAAIBAJ&sjid=R1EEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4705,453580&dq=hussein+al+oweini&hl=en|agency=United Press International|access-date=8 April 2013|newspaper=The Dispatch}}

Personal life and death

Oweini was married to Chafica Jaroudi. One of Oweini's daughter is Nada Oweini who is one of the shareholders of the BLOM Bank and the wife of Saudi-Lebanese businessman Ghassan Chaker.{{cite web|author=Fawwaz Traboulsi|title=Social Classes and Political Power in Lebanon|location=Beirut|page=108|url=https://lb.boell.org/en/2014/05/04/social-classes-and-political-power-lebanon

|publisher=Heinrich Böll Foundation - Middle East|access-date=18 May 2024|year=2014}}

Hussein Al Oweini died on 11 January 1971, aged 70.{{cite book|title=MEED|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gthHAAAAYAAJ|year=1971

|publisher=Economic East Economic Digest, Limited|page=75}} After his death, the Hussein Al Oweini Award was initiated in his honor.{{cite web|title=Zahraa Shait|url=http://www.aub.edu.lb/fas/pspa/people/Pages/shaito.aspx|work=American University of Beirut|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304094419/http://www.aub.edu.lb/fas/pspa/people/Pages/shaito.aspx|access-date=18 July 2013|archive-date=4 March 2016}}