Dag Hammarskjöld

{{Audio|sv-Dag_Hammarskjöld.ogg|Dag Hammarskjöld}} (full name Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld) (July 29, 1905 – September 18, 1961) was a Swedish diplomat who served as Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in an plane crash in September of 1961.

UN Secretary General

When Trygve Lie resigned from his post as UN Secretary General in 1953, the Security Council decided to recommend Hammarskjöld to the post. It came as a surprise to him. He was selected in March 31 with the majority of 10 out of eleven states. The UN General Assembly elected him in the April 7–10 session, by 57 votes out of 60. In 1957 he was re-elected.

Related Topics:
Trygve Lie - UN Secretary General - 1953 - Security Council - March 31

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Hammarskjöld started his term by establishing his own secretariat of 4,000 administrators. He set up regulations that defined their responsibilities. He insisted that the secretary-general should be able to take emergency action without the prior approval of the Security Council or the General Assembly.

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During his terms, Hammarskjöld tried to soothe relations between Israel and the Arab states. In 1956 he went to mainland China to negotiate the release of 15 US pilots who had served in the Korean War and been captured by the Chinese. In 1956 he established the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF). In 1957 he intervened in the Suez Crisis.

Related Topics:
Israel - Mainland China - Korean War - 1956 - United Nations Emergency Force - 1957 - Suez Crisis

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In 1960 the former Belgian colony and now newly-independent Congo asked for UN aid in defusing the escalating civil strife. Hammarskjöld made four trips to the Congo republic. However, his efforts towards the decolonisation of Africa were considered insufficient by the USSR. In September 1960 the Soviet Union denounced his decision to send a UN emergency force to keep the peace. They demanded his resignation, and the replacement of the office of secretary general by a three-man directorate with a built-in veto, the "troika". The objective was, citing the memoirs of the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, to "equally represent interests of three groups of countries: capitalist, socialist and recently independent" http://www.un.org/russian/av/radio/history60/11history60.htm.

Related Topics:
1960 - Congo - Africa - USSR - Soviet Union - Veto - Nikita Khrushchev

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