WASHINGTON (WHTC-AM/FM) – It was made official at 4:30 PM on Monday afternoon.
That’s when Vice President Mike Pence, at his White House Office in Washington, swore in Pete Hoekstra as the new US Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Senate last month approved the appointment of the former eight-term House Representative from Holland on a bipartisan vote, and the native of the Netherlands knows how deep the relationship between the US and his homeland is. “They are our longest serving ally,” Hoekstra told WHTC News after the Upper Chamber’s ratification vote. “We have never fired a shot at each other in any kind of dispute. We’ve been entrusted now with nurturing that relationship that has been out there for 400 years.”
The eight-term Republican Congressman from Holland had been foiled in bids for Governor and US Senator since stepping down from the House in 2010 before being tabbed by President Trump to become the new American Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Hoekstra had been one of Mr. Trump’s Michigan co-chairs during the President’s successful election campaign last year, and while some see this appointment as nothing more than just a reward for such service, Hoekstra does bring experience as a former House Intelligence Committee Chairman to the post at The Hague. “It is about national security,” he said, “it is about the War on Terrorism, it is about economic development, for the Dutch are the third largest foreign investor in the United States, and it is about cultural exchanges.”
One of the proudest people this afternoon was Bill Huizenga. The four-term US House Representative from Zeeland attended the swearing-in ceremony of what he calls his friend and mentor, as Huizenga had been on Hoekstra’s staff before entering the Michigan state House in 2003 and succeeded Hoekstra in Congress in 2010. “Having been born there (in the Netherlands), moving here when he was very young, the son of a baker,” Huizenga said about Hoekstra’s roots, “having his dad watch him become a US Congressman, and now being able to be this country’s representative back to his home country as a citizen, it’s a pretty amazing story.”
Hoekstra still must have his credentials accepted by the Dutch government before he takes over overseeing the American Embassy in The Hague.
