Editing Giuseppe Motta (section)

==Biography==
He was born on 29 December 1871. He was elected to the [[Federal Council of Switzerland]] on 14 December 1911. Motta served 28 years in the Federal Council, the third longest tenure to date. He was affiliated with the [[Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland]].

While in office he headed the [[Department of Finance (Switzerland)|Department of Finance]] (1912–1919)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/de/home/das-efd/der-departementsvorsteher/ueli-maurer/fruehere-departmentsvorsteher.html|title=Frühere Departmentsvorsteher/Innen|access-date=2020-02-27|archive-date=2020-10-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027065751/https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/de/home/das-efd/der-departementsvorsteher/ueli-maurer/fruehere-departmentsvorsteher.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the [[Federal Department of Foreign Affairs|Political Department]] (1920–1940). He was elected [[President of the Confederation (Switzerland)|President of the Confederation]] five times, in 1915, 1920, 1927, 1932 and 1937.

In 1923 the [[ICRC]] admitted the first two non-Genevans to its Assembly - [[Max Huber (statesman)|Max Huber]] from Zürich and Motta, who was also the first Catholic.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Humanitarians|author=David P. Forsythe|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2005|page=41}}</ref> He clearly did not see any conflict of interest in combining his work with the ICRC with his continuing political career. 

Motta was involved with the [[Federal Council (Switzerland)|Federal Council]] [[Felix Calonder]] in Switzerland's accession to the [[League of Nations]] on 16 May 1920. In 1924 he became [[President of the League of Nations|President League of Nations Assembly]]. At his suggestion, Switzerland was one of the few states against accepting the [[Soviet Union]] into the League of Nations.<ref>Dietrich Dreyer: Schweizer Kreuz und Sowjetstern, 1989</ref> He was one of the most outspoken advocates of admission of [[Germany]]. In the [[Interwar period|Interwar Period]], he pleaded for a partial departure from Swiss neutrality principle, but spoke out from 1938 in the face of the looming [[Second World War]] again for its strict observance.<ref>Die kleine Enzyklopädie, Encyclios-Verlag, Zürich, 1950, Band 2, Seite 204</ref>

He died in office on 23 January 1940, at 68 years old.