Jacques Necker was born on September 30, 1732. He was born in Geneva, Switzerland. He was the son of aCharles-Frederic, born in Custrin in Poménarie, he had the title of middle-class man in 1726. He was also a college regent. He went to Paris in1747 to work in a Paris bank. He became big in the banking business. During the Seven Years War he became very wealthy. In 1762 he was made a partner of the bank. By 1765 he established his own bank. He became involved in public affairs. He made tons of loans to the French government. In 1764 he married Suzanne Curchod, daughter of a Swiss pastor. She was beautiful, charming, and intelligent.
In 1776 King Louis XVI named him director general of the treasury. The next year he became director general of finances. He became very popular among France. When he had his short term, high interest loans it almost sent the government into bankruptcy. He soon had a reputation as a financial genius. His sky-high popularity and his late attempts to curtail spending earned him some hostility in the French court. Like Turgot, Necker soon found himself isolated and unable to push his more serious financial reforms through. He was dismissed in 1781.
In the meantime, Necker's successor, Alexandre de Calonne, had realized the truly desperate condition of French state finances and tried to reinstate some of Turgot's old reforms, which were greeted by howls of opposition in the assembly of notables. Calonne and Necker entered into a public confrontation in 1787, which resulted in Necker's exile from Paris.
In 1788, when Necker was reappointed, he was appointed by the people as the only man capable of restoring sound administration to the disordered French financial system. In the following year his popularity was further increased when he recommended to the king that the Estates-General. When Necker threw out crazy proposals and when he refused to support a plot against the National Assembly Louis XVI had to dismiss Necker again.
