This article presents a brief biographical study of John Loudon (1866—1955), a Dutch statesman and high-ranking diplomat. The son of a former minister and governor-general of the Netherlands Indies, Loudon studied law at Leiden University, defended his dissertation in international law, and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1894 onward, he held diplomatic posts in Rome, Beijing, London, Paris, Tokyo, and Washington. In 1913, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Cort van der Linden, a post he held throughout World War I. The actions of the Dutch government, and above all, John Loudons cautious and pragmatic policy of maintaining strict neutrality in the Netherlands, surrounded by warring powers, saved the country from the devastating consequences of the war. During the interwar period, J. Loudon served as the Dutch envoy to Paris for over twenty years, making a significant contribution to the development of Dutch-French cultural ties. Dutch historiography has not yet paid sufficient attention to his life and work; there is no monographic study on him, only short, mostly encyclopedic, articles. This study is the first in Russian historiography to examine the life and work of J. Loudon.
Galina Shatokhina-Mordvintseva (Wed,) studied this question.