  (13 june 1901 â 21 june 1985) was a swedish politician who served as prime minister of sweden from 1946 to 1969. he was the leader of the swedish social democratic party and led the government for an uninterrupted tenure of 23 years, one of the longest in any democracy. this led to the popular expression "sweden's longest prime minister" referring to both his physical stature and tenure (the swedish word lÃ¥ng meaning both long and tall).wilsford, david. political leaders of contemporary western europe: a biographical dictionary. greenwood, 1995, p. 125. ascending to the world war ii coalition government in 1944, erlander rose unexpectedly to leadership upon the death of prime minister per albin hansson in october 1946, maintaining the position of the social democratic party as the dominant party in the country. known for his moderation, pragmatism and self-irony, erlander often sought approval from the liberal-conservative opposition for his policies, de facto dropping all pretences of wide-scale nationalizations whilst introducing reforms such as universal health insurance, pension additions and a growing public sector while stopping short of raising tax levels above the average oecd levels at the time. until the 1960s, income taxes were lower in sweden than in the united states. for most of his time in power, erlander ran a minority government of the social democrats. from 1951 to 1957, he instead ran a coalition with the farmers' league.{{cite web|author=dick erixon |url=http://web.comhem.se/dier/swedish%
1901_births 1985_deaths Leaders_of_the_Swedish_Social_Democratic_Party Lund_University_alumni Members_of_the_lower_house_of_the_parliament_of_Sweden People_from_Munkfors_Municipality Prime_Ministers_of_Sweden Swedish_Lutherans Swedish_Ministers_for_Education Swedish_memoirists Swedish_people_of_Finnish_descent