Kövér said before the ceremony that in the past century Tisza has been slandered in many ways but he deserved to be included in the Hungarian pantheon.
Portrait of István Tisza (MTI reproduction of a painting in the National Museum)
Tisza, born into a puritanic Calvinist family, held a doctorate in political sciences from Oxford University and eventually followed in the footsteps of his father, Kálmán Tisza, Liberal Prime Minister of Hungary between 1875-1890. The younger Tisza was first elected Prime Minister in 1903.
During his political career he had been the target of anti-Semitic circles for granting titles to wealthy Jewish families, Socialists for quelling a railway strike and radical nationalists for his alliance with the ethnic minorities represented in Parliament.
But he is probably most remembered for being Prime Minister when Hungary entered World War I in 1914. He was forced to resign in 1917 by Austrian Emperor and King of Hungary, Charles I.
He was assassinated by unidentified officers in his home on October 31, 1918.
“His greatness lies exactly in his tragic fate, as even he was unable to find a solution that could have saved Hungary,” Kövér said.
Title image: Speaker of the House László Kövér lays a wreath at a memorial for assassinated former Prime Minister István Tisza (MTI/Zoltán Máthé)
