As a councillor of Nijmegen he entered politics in 1945. Three years later he became an MP. He exercised this position till 1948, and again from 1963 to 1965. In between, he was (deputy) government minister of Education, Arts and Sciences. In 1965 he became prime minister of the so-called Cals cabinet, consisting of his own Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionairy Party (ARP) and the Labour Party (PvdA). A motion of fellow party member Norbert Schmelzer led to the end of his cabinet in 1966.