Foreign Minister
Which position did Jens Otto Krag hold from Oct 1958 to Sep 1962?
Jens Otto Krag Jens Otto Krag ( ; 15 September 1914 – 22 June 1978 ) was a Danish politician . He was Prime Minister from 1962 to 1968 and again from 1971 to 1972 . He was President of the Nordic Council in 1971 . Krag was born in Randers , Denmark . He joined the Danish Social Democratic Party youth organization in 1930 and rose through the ranks of the party . In the 1930s he moved to Copenhagen and studied economics at the University of Copenhagen while remaining very active in the party . Political career . Member of Folketing . During World War II , he was Danish supply director and advisor to the labor unions on economic matters . He was elected to Parliament ( Folketinget ) in 1947 and became Commerce Minister . He supported the strengthening of the Danish military and Danish membership of NATO in 1949 . In 1950 Krag resigned from Parliament partially due to a conflict with Vilhelm Buhl and H . C . Hansen and , in order to become more fluent in the English language and see more of the world , requested a position at the Danish embassy in the United States . He received the position , and was in America until 1953 when he was re-elected to parliament and became a minister without portfolio . He was minister of the new department of foreign economic affairs from 1953 until 1958 and Foreign Minister from 1958 until 1962 . Prime Minister . In September 1962 he succeeded Viggo Kampmann as Prime Minister and leader of the Danish Social Democratic Party . He was Prime Minister until February 1968 when the Social Democrats lost power . He became Prime Minister again in 1971 when his party returned to power . Less than a year into his first term as prime minister , the opposition held a referendum which rejected a set of land laws already passed by Krags government . During his second term as Prime Minister , Krag campaigned particularly for European cooperation and unity . He sponsored a referendum for Denmark to join the European Economic Community . In 1972 the referendum passed , but the nation was divided over the issue , and Krag resigned , claiming that he had become tired of politics . His last role in public life was as the European Common Market representative to the United States from 1974 until 1975 . In social policy , a number of progressive reforms were implemented during Krags time as Prime Minister . Under the New Care of Children and Juveniles Act of May 1964 , local child and juvenile welfare committees were authorized to grant cash benefits to certain families with children , to avoid placing children in the care of the Municipal Social Welfare Offices . New criteria for day-care institutions stressing social , educational , and therapeutic aspects were also introduced , and municipalities were obliged to provide facilities for day-care and other related services . Under the Employment Service and Unemployment Insurance Act of February 1967 , unemployment benefits were raised and indexed to the official wage index and waiting times were abolished . In addition , an accident insurance act of December 1964 indexed benefits . The Basic Education Act of April 1972 extended compulsory basic education from 7 to 9 years . while A law passed in June 1972 introduced a new scheme for daily cash benefits in cases of sickness and maternity . In 1964 , a supplementary pension scheme was established , together with universal child allowances in 1967 . Legacy . Krag is widely recognised as one of the greatest politicians of all time in Denmark . He was in the front line of politics for 25 years , holding high ministerial offices for most of that time . He managed to raise Denmarks profile on the world stage , striking up strong relationships with fellow European leaders as well as American presidents Kennedy and Johnson . His list of political achievements is also one of the most impressive , overseeing one of the longest periods of economic expansion in Danish history . However , his largest achievement , and the one he himself was most proud of , was taking Denmark into the European Economic Community in 1973 . With that task accomplished he felt he could retire at a high point . Krag was at one and the same time one of the most charismatic and withdrawn Danish politicians ever . He never enjoyed the attention to which he had to subject himself , and many people found him rather arrogant . According to his most thorough ( and quite sympathetic ) biographer ( Bo Lidegaard , Krag I-II , 2001/2002 ) he never truly settled into the role as a politician , always considering himself on the way to somewhere else . He had always dreamed of holding the position of governor of the National Bank of Denmark . Only when he had definitively quit politics in 1972 did he realise that he would not be able to achieve this goal . In the Danish TV series Krøniken ( 2004–2006 ) he was portrayed by the actor Lars Mikkelsen . Private life . Krag had a difficult private life . He was married twice and had a son ( Jens Christian born 1960 ) and a daughter , Astrid Helene Søsser ( 1962–2014 ) , by his second wife , the famous actress Helle Virkner , but also another child outside of wedlock . Both his marriages ended in divorce , largely due to his own infidelity . During his time in politics , he already struggled with alcoholism , an addiction that became more pronounced after his retirement . He died of heart failure in Skiveren , Denmark at the age of 63 . He was an atheist . Further reading . - Wilsford , David , ed . Political leaders of contemporary Western Europe : a biographical dictionary ( Greenwood , 1995 ) pp . 253–59 .