Bethlen, István

Born Oct. 8, 1874; died Oct. 5, 1946. Count; Hungarian political figure; prime minister, April 1921 to August 1931. Bethlen carried out a reactionary domestic policy. In foreign policy, he favored fascist Italy, with which he signed a friendship treaty in 1927. Beginning in 1936 he was privy councillor and life member of the Upper Chamber of the State Assembly. In 1940, fearing that Hungary might be absorbed by Germany, Bethlen opposed its adherence to the Berlin Pact of 1940. In the latter half of 1944, as an adviser to M. Horthy, Bethlen proposed negotiations with Great Britain avid, the USA on bringing their troops into Hungary in order to save the Horthy regime.