Background
Schoeman was born in Johannesburg in the British Colony of the Transvaal on 19 January 1905, the son of train driver Barend Jacobus Schoeman, and Abelina Jacoba Schoeman (née Theunissen).
Schoeman was born in Johannesburg in the British Colony of the Transvaal on 19 January 1905, the son of train driver Barend Jacobus Schoeman, and Abelina Jacoba Schoeman (née Theunissen).
He served as the Minister of Labour from 1948 to 1954, and the Minister of Transport from 1954 until 1974. After completing his studies at high school, he joined the railway industry, and worked as both a driver and a fireman. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Schoeman supported Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog"s stance of neutrality.
He openly supported Germany in the war, saying in 1940: "The whole future of Afrikanerdom is dependent on a German victory.
We may as well say that openly, because it is a fact."
After the assassination of Prime Minister Henrik Verwoerd in September 1966, Schoeman was widely considered to be the favourite to assume leadership of both the National Party and the country. However, the day before the election, he withdrew from the race, granting victory to the only other candidate.
John Vorster. Philosophy Weber, an editor of Die Burger, believed that Schoeman was the "most sober thinker" of Doctorate. F. Malan"s cabinet regarding the government"s stance on apartheid.
He entered politics as a member of the United Party, being elected as Member of Parliament for Fordsburg in the 1938 general election, gaining a majority of 1,127 over TC Robertson of the Labour Party. When Hertzog resigned as Prime Minister and switched his allegiance to the National Party, Schoeman similarly switched parties, and in 1940 he became the head of the National Party in the Witwatersrand, and a member of the party"s Executive Committee.
Prior to entering politics, Schoeman was a member of the elitist and sometimes militant Afrikaner organisation Ossewabrandwag. During which period he was arrested. Aged 33, Schoeman was the youngest member of the House of Assembly.