Johan Ludwig Mowinckel graduated from high school in 1888. In the period 1890-1893 he studied languages and business in Germany, England and France. In 1898 he bought his first ship and subsequently developed a shipping company of considerable size with its headquarters in Bergen.

Mowinckel became chairman of Bergens Venstreforening (the local branch of the Liberal Party) and was elected to the City Council in 1899. He was a member of the Storting in 1906-1909, 1912-1918 and from 1921. From 1916 until 1918 he served as President of the Storting. He was also President of the League of Nations in the late 1920s.

During the whole inter-war period, Mowinckel was one of the most prominent non-socialist politicians in Norway. He was Minister of Trade in 1921-1922, Foreign Minister in 1922-1923 and Norway's Prime Minister in 1924-1926, 1928-1931 and 1933-1935. Johan Ludwig Mowinckel was a member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 1925 to 1936.


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