Evening star., 1946-01-30
Lie, Versatile and Friendly,
Can Boom in Five LANGUAGES
Gets Around Fast on
Tennis Court Despite
His 220 Pounds
BY NEwBoLD. MOVES. Jr.

Trygve Lie, the man who more
than any one else is expected to
shape the destiny of the United
Nations. is addicted to bull ses-
sions." He will talk as late as DOS :
sible on as many subjects as possible
1t was typical of him that when
ne got together with all those In J
teresting people at the San Fran
cisco Conference he was SO carried
away by the spirit of the thing that
ne lost his voice for two weeks.
1t also was typical of the fabulous
Norwegian, who is due TO become
UNO's secretary general, that he
kept talking thereafter in one of the
loudest whispers ever heard on the
North American continent.
Normally, according to a close
friend, the Lie voice might be de-
scribed as "a sort of gruff boom. "
He is not the intellectual type. But
ne is a graduate of the law school
at the University of Oslo, and can
boom gr'lffly in English, German.
French and little Russian as we'll
as in his native tongue.
Carries Self Erect.
He Is a big man, with the ruddy,
outdoor complexion of sea captain.
He misses 6 feet by about an inch,
but. he weighs at least 220 pounds
and is not worried about it. He has
an enormous appetite for almost
everything in life, whether it be
the complexities of labor law or
good wild pheasant, broiled to a
turn. Despite his bulk, he carries
himself very erect and gets around
fast on the tennis court. He is a
good skier, also likes to wrestle,
when he can talk somebody into
serving as an opponent.
This 50-year-old Oslo-born son
of cabinetmaker, whose name is
properly pronounced Trig-va Lee,
has an enormous, heavy -jowled
head, topped by curly, coal-black
hair. There are deep lines in his
forehead, and when he is perplexed
they gather to the left into what
looks like, but is not, a scar. His
eyes are greenish blue. His hat
size has been the subject of much
speculation among his friends. One,
who wears a seven and three-quar-
ters, once put on Mr.. Lies hat by
mistake and it came down over his
ears.
Although he is a chain smoker
(he confines himself to Turkish
cigarettes), his friends say his stride
in life, like his stride on the tennis
court, is amazingly free swinging.
They think he is something very
rare-a realist who Is not wor-
rier. They predict that in his new
job that knot of lines on the left
side of his forehead will gather
more frequently than in the past,
but that he will keep his equilib-
rum and sense of humor as no
one else could.
No Time to Get Tired.
An Embassy friend puts it this
way: "Trygve works like dynamo
but at the same time he doesn't
work too hard. He likes so many
things and does them so enthusi-
sstically that he hasn't time to get
tired out tr1 any particular line of
endeavor."
Mr.. Lie is a labor lawyer and
good one. But he is not specialist.
He knows something about music,
something about painting. He knows
almost everything about wines-but
he drinks hard liquor, too, when he
feels like it. He Is a man of the
people who loves to shoot grouse
with friends In the English nobility.
He is plain man, and simple one,
and he had no diplomatic back
ground when he became Norway's
Foreign Minister in ,1941-but he
dresses the part of a diplomat and
has seldom been seen in any other
garb than blue double breasted
suit topped of by black Homburg
hat.
Mr.. Lie became secretary general
to the Norwegian labor party shortly
after graduating from college in
1919, and served 20 years as legal
counsel to the Norwegian Federation
Of Labor. He was named Minister
OF Trade, Shipping and Industry in
1899, in which capacity he was in
charge of army and civilian supplies
when The Germans attacked Nor
way.
Charmed Russians.
In that debacle he was respon-
sible for the fact that the entire
merchant fleet, 900 900
tons of twas placed at the dise
posal of the Allies. He took over
the foreign ministry. in the exiled
government from Halvdan Kont
after flying to England.
Politically, he is we'll left of CEN
kVV7I oI