United Nations News Centre - Character Sketches: Trygve Lie by Brian Urquhart United Nations News Centre Trygve Lie by Brian Urquhart Trygve Lie of Norway, the first elected Secretary-General of the United Nations. "Welcome, Dag Hammarskjöld, to the most impossible job on this earth.” With these encouraging words, Trygve Lie, the first Secretary-General of the United Nations, greeted his successor, Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden, at Idlewild airport in New York on April 9, 1953. 13 April 1953 - Some months after his service as Secretary-General, Trygve Lie meets with his successor, Dag Hammarskjöld, at UN Headquarters. Lie had certainly had a difficult time since his appointment as Secretary-General in early 1946. “Why,” he asked in his memoirs, “has this awesome task fallen to a labor lawyer from Norway?” Lie had battled through endless frustrations and difficulties only to find himself in the end assailed by the Soviet Union on the left, and by the machinations of Senator Joseph McCarthy and others on the right. He resigned in November 1952.

Lie was the Minister of Justice in a Socialist government in Norway just before the Second World War. His chief claim to international fame up to that time had been granting Leon Trotsky asylum in Norway and rescinding it a year later on the grounds that Trotsky, by his public statements, had violated the conditions of asylum. Trotsky subsequently left Norway for Mexico, where he was assassinated. Lie’s enemies put it about that he had bowed to Soviet pressure, an allegation that stuck to him in his later career. When Germany invaded Norway in 1940, Lie was credited with ordering all Norwegian ships at sea to sail to British ports. He then escaped to London with King Haakon and served throughout the war as foreign minister of the government-in-exile. When the United Nations was being set up in London in late 1945, Lie, as the foreign minister of a fighting ally which was also well-regarded by the Soviet Union, was a useful candidate for high-level UN appointments that required Soviet approval. Some highlights from the career of Trygve Lie, the Norwegian politician and diplomat who served as the first elected Secretary-General of the United Nations.

The Secretary-General of the UN is nominated by the Security Council and appointed by all the member states in the General Assembly. Various glamorous candidates for the post had been mentioned in the press, including General Dwight Eisenhower, Lester Pearson of Canada, and Anthony Eden of Great Britain, but there was no possibility that the Soviets would agree to any of them. The Security Council nominated Lie as a compromise candidate in early 1946. During the process of Assembly approval, Edward Stettinius, the United States Secretary of State, rushed to my table in the Assembly hall and asked me to identify Lie, whose name he mispronounced to rhyme with ‘tie’ rather than ‘see.’ I pointed out the substantial figure of the Foreign Minister of Norway, and Stettinius then mounted the podium to acclaim Lie as an celebrated wartime leader, a household name, etc. 1 January 1946 - Trygve Lie meets with Gladwyn Jebb, who was then the Executive Secretary of the United Nations. Prior to Lie becoming the first elected Secretary-General, Jebb served as Acting Secretary-General from October 1945 to February 1946.

Lie’s appointment as Secretary-General was an anti-climax – the first of many to be suffered by the new world organization. He was suited neither by temperament nor intellect to his very demanding new position, and from the beginning he seemed to be out of his depth in a complex and very public job. Lie relied more on what he called his ‘political nose’ than on intellectual effort or hard diplomatic work, and he was difficult to help or to work for. In public life at any rate, he was a suspicious and insecure man with a hair-trigger temper. He was sensitive about his new position without knowing quite what to make of it. He would leave a public event if he felt he had not been properly seated. At a dinner Gladwyn Jebb gave for Anthony Eden, Lie popped into the dining room before dinner and changed the place cards to give himself the place of honor. In those early days, most governments were determined to keep the Secretary-General out of politics and to confine his work to administration. Lie did his best both to get the UN going and to work for political moderation and common sense, two qualities that were becoming increasingly rare among governments.

Having put Lie in a new and extremely challenging job, the UN’s member governments did little or nothing to provide the qualified, top-level assistance that would have lightened his burden. The eight assistant secretaries-general were political appointees and, except for Arkady Sobolev of the Soviet Union, they were at best mediocre and at worst grotesque. Outstanding in the latter category was the US appointee ‘Potato Jack’ Hutson, whom the Department of Agriculture had evidently been delighted to get rid of. Lie, who met with this dismal crew once a week, was increasingly frustrated and disgusted, and he had every right to be. It was due to Lie and his good relations with New York Mayor William O’Dwyer, the Rockefeller family, and Robert Moses, the powerful New York City planner, that after wandering in the wilderness and being threatened with a number of totally unsuitable sites in the United States, the UN was finally settled in its magnificent permanent location on the East River in New York City. This was a major achievement, and Lie deserves all credit for it. Lie’s Secretary-Generalship was not without moments of farce, even of slapstick.

In the summer of 1946, we went to Geneva for the final conferences of the League of Nations and the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), the immense, American-led reconstruction operation that began to put the war-shattered world on its feet again. UNRRA was headed by Fiorello LaGuardia, the famously eccentric former mayor of New York City. In the ghastly Palais des Nations in Geneva, former home of the League of Nations, there is a small private elevator originally intended to take the president of the League of Nations Assembly to the podium of the Assembly Hall. On the way to the UNRRA meeting, Lie and LaGuardia, whose combined weight must have approached 500 pounds, both claimed this small and uncertain vehicle as their personal right. Neither would give way and, against all advice, they squeezed into it together. When the doors closed on the competitive statesmen, the elevator, instead of rising, descended slowly out of sight. In the stricken silence that followed, multilingual imprecations arose from the depths. Tweedledum and Tweedledee came to mind.

A Swiss engineer was summoned, and the elevator was cranked up to its original position to release its disheveled cargo. The conference started late. Lie and Herbert Evatt, the Australian foreign minister who was president of the UN General Assembly’s 1948 session, were intensely suspicious of each other. For the 1948 session in Paris, our offices were flimsy temporary structures erected for the occasion in the cavernous space of the Musée de l’Homme, looking across the Seine to the Eiffel Tower. One day, after a shouting match in Evatt’s office, Lie emerged red in the face with rage and slammed Evatt’s door with all his strength. The walls of Evatt’s office then collapsed, leaving the two statesmen glaring at each other over the ruins. Bill Stoneman, a veteran war correspondent who had become Lie’s speechwriter, and I were overcome with laughter by this spectacle, which united Evatt and Lie in rebuking us for lack of respect. By mutual consent, I left Lie’s office in 1950. I had strongly disagreed with his attitude to the Palestine problem, rightly or wrongly believing him to be seriously biased in favor of Israel.

I also thought that some of the things he said and did at Headquarters were putting Ralph Bunche, who had become the UN Mediator in Palestine after Bernadotte’s assassination, at personal risk as well as undermining his work. 1 August 1949 - Before being appointed Secretary-General in 1946, Trygve Lie served in a variety of roles in Norwegian politics, including as Minister of Justice and of Commerce, and, subsequently, as Minister of Foreign Affairs throughout the Second World War. It was in this role that he represented Norway at the first session of the UN General Assembly. 3 May 1945 - Lie’s work with the United Nations before becoming Secretary-General included chairing Commission III which was responsible for drafting the Security Council provisions of the UN Charter. Shown here, Lie chairs a Commission III meeting, held at the San Francisco Conference between 25 April and 26 June 1945. 10 January 1946 - The first session of the General Assembly opened at Central Hall in London, in the United Kingdom. Lie headed the Norwegian delegation to the gathering which, on 1 February 1946, elected him as the first Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Shown here, Lie (seated at right at the podium) listens as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Clement Attlee, addresses the General Assembly. 25 May 1946 - The first meeting of the second session of the UN Economic and Social Council had representatives from Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, India, Lebanon, Norway, Peru, Ukraine, the U.S.S.R. the United Kingdom, the United States and Yugoslavia, as well as Secretary-General Lie. 2 October 1946 - Here, Secretary-General Lie (at head of table) confers with senior officials at the temporary headquarters of the United Nations, located at Lake Success on Long Island in New York state. Lie played a role in helping secure the permanent headquarters location on Manhattan in New York City. Seated to Secretary-General Lie’s right is Brian Urquhart, then serving as the Secretary-General’s personal assistant. 25 March 1947. Here, Secretary-General Lie receives from John D. Rockefeller III, on behalf of his father, John D.

Rockefeller, Jr., a check for $8,500,000 for the purchase of a six-block site facing the East River on the Manhattan site where the United Nations was to locate its permanent Headquarters. 5 October 1949. The UN Headquarters complex is located in the heart of New York City on 1st Avenue between 42nd and 48th Street. The 18-acre site has been declared international territory and belongs to the 193 Member States of the United Nations. Here, Secretary-General Lie and members of the Headquarters Advisory Committee are seen with the UN flag before it is unfurled atop the completed steel work for the 39-story UN Secretariat building in accordance with the custom of construction workers in 1949. 24 October 1949 - The cornerstone of the UN’s permanent headquarters was laid in 1949, on United Nations Day, during a special open-air General Assembly meeting. The ceremony, which also marked the fourth anniversary of the Organization, was attended by US President Harry S. Truman. Secretary-General Lie deposited copies of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the cornerstone.

Here, he and the building’s chief architect, Wallace K. Harrison, apply mortar to seal the cornerstone. 9 May 1951 - Here, Secretary-General Lie meets with the Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, during the latter’s official visit to UN Headquarters, and accompanied by Israeli and UN officials, including Dr. Ralph Bunche (third from right), the Director of the UN’s Division of Trusteeship, and former Acting Mediator in Palestine. 10 November 1952 - Standing at the presidential rostrum in the plenary hall of the new General Assembly building, Secretary-General Lie reads to the delegates the text of the letter in which he submitted to the President of the Assembly his resignation from his post. 9 April 1953 - Secretary-General Lie’s successor was Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden. Here, at Idlewild Airport, Secretary-General Lie welcomes Hammarskjöld as he alights from his flight from Stockholm.

Famously, Lie told Hammarskjöld that he was about to take over “the most impossible job in the world.” 27 April 1953 - At a ceremony, the City of New York paid a special farewell to Secretary-General Lie on his impending departure, and, at the same time, officially welcomed Dag Hammarskjöld as his successor. Here, Mayor Vincent Impellitteri, on behalf of the City, presents a special scroll to Secretary-General Lie "for distinguished and exceptional public service, " and also awarded him the City's "Medal of Honor." ‹ › Since his resignation in 1952, Lie has often been judged and found wanting, but this is scarcely fair. He had been given one of the world’s most difficult jobs—a job to which he had neither aspired nor sought. He did not have all the qualifications or the charisma that would certainly have helped him, but then whom with such qualities could have been accepted by both East and West? The Soviets and the French, for example, as they would later demonstrate with Lie’s successor, Dag Hammarskjöld, had no wish to have a brilliant and charismatic leader in the Secretary-General’s chair.

Lie had political courage and conviction, and he certainly cared passionately about the United Nations. He fully backed the Security Council’s decision to fight the North Korean invasion of South Korea and thus earned excommunication by the Soviet Union. He got into difficulties in trying to deal with Senator Joseph McCarthy’s witch-hunt for American Communists in the UN secretariat, thereby earning the scorn of many of its members. Lie was not a good administrator—the ‘political nose’ did not function well in administration—but his major achievement was in the administrative field. It was due to Lie and his good relations with New York Mayor William O’Dwyer, the Rockefeller family, and Robert Moses, the powerful New York City planner, that after wandering in the wilderness and being threatened with a number of totally unsuitable sites in the United States, the UN was finally settled in its magnificent permanent location on the East River in New York City. This was a major achievement, and Lie deserves all credit for it. Lie resigned in order, as he put it, to hand over to someone who had the support of all the member states.

He was furious when that person turned out to be Dag Hammarskjöld, who was not only a Swede but also had gifts of intellect and character that Lie lacked. In his anger, Lie foolishly began to put it about that Hammarskjöld was homosexual. The only people who took this canard seriously were the FBI, prompted by Lie’s crony and UN security chief, Frank Begley. The FBI reported triumphantly to Washington that the new Secretary-General was living with his boyfriend in a suite at the Waldorf Astoria. The ‘boyfriend’ was Hammarskjöld’s chief assistant, Per Lind, a respected Swedish diplomat and father of four. When this report was referred to Walton Butterworth, the American ambassador in Stockholm, he commented that if the US government was capable of being taken in by such prurient nonsense, they didn’t deserve to get Hammarskjöld as Secretary-General. Lie’s performance outraged Lester Pearson, the foreign minister of Canada, and Gladwyn Jebb, the British ambassador, who told him that if he did not stop slandering his successor they would have to take public action.

Lie’s malicious and baseless calumnies would dog Hammarskjöld at controversial points in his subsequent career. This was an unworthy end to Lie’s time at the UN, and it tended to color subsequent estimates of his performance. He had done his best when the exigencies of the incipient Cold War placed him in an historic position at an historic time, but the UN lost much of its original spark through Lie’s haphazard appointment. Trygve Lie's seven years for peace - a bio Trygve Lie's seven years for peace - a bio Trygve Lie with his grandson at the UN. Photo: UN Photo Trygve Lie's seven years for peace - a bio 8/13/2010 // Norwegian lawyer and politician Trygve Lie was the United Nations first Secretary General. He held the post for seven years, from 1946 to 1953, and famously described it as "the most difficult job in the world". In the aftermath of the Second World War and at the onset of the Cold War, Lie sought to make his office a “source for peace”. See photos from Trygve Lie's time at the UN on Norway at the UN on Flickr .

The Early Years Trygve Halvdan Lie was born in Oslo, then Kristiania, on July 16, 1896. His father cut his ties to the family when he migrated to America before Lie’s birth. Lie grew up with his mother Hulda and his older sister in a working class neighbourhood on the outskirts of the Norwegian capital. His mother ran a cafe and Lie used to read newspapers aloud for the workers. Lie had several local benefactors who supported him through school and university. He gained his law degree in 1919 and became a legal advisor for the Norwegian Federation of Trade Unions (LO) in 1922. Lie got into politics at an early age and quickly rose through the ranks of the Labour Party. From 1935, Lie held several ministerial posts, among them Minister of Justice, Minister of Trade and Minister for Supply and Shipping. During the Second World War, while the Norwegian government was in exile in London, Lie was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, a post he held until 1946. During the war years he also acted as Prime Minister for a brief period. Read more about Trygve Lie as Norwegian politician here.

Trygve Lie and the UN “Those who gave their lives in order that we may be free, those who lost their homes, those who suffered, and still suffer, from the consequences of war have given us a sacred mandate: that is to build a firm foundation for the peace of the world.” Trygve Lie, February 2, 1946 As the Second World War was drawing to a close, the members of the Allied forces met to form a successor to the ill-fated League of Nations. In April 1945, representatives from 50 nations – 242 delegates and 1444 officially accredited participants - gathered in San Fransisco for the United Nations Conference on International Organisation. The United Nations was born. Foreign Minister Lie led the Norwegian delegation, and chaired the commission which drafted the Security Council provision of the UN Charter . See photos and a short video report from the San Fransisco conference. Just over six months later, Lie again headed another Norwegian delegation. This time to the first ever UN General Assembly, held in London.

After narrowly losing a vote to make him President of the General Assembly, Trygve Lie was elected United Nations Secretary General on February1, 1946 and installed a day later. See video of Trygve Lie reading his first statement to the UN General Assembly. Trygve Lie as UN Secretary General “The one common undertaking and universal instrument of the great majority of the human race is the United Nations.” Trygve Lie, July 20 1950 Lie arrived in New York in March 1946. The UN had not yet found a permanent home, so work started at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. Lie proved himself as a pragmatic politician and dealmaker. Within a couple of weeks Lie had provided temporary offices and before year’s end the UN had secured a site for its future headquarters on Manhattan. This can, to a large extent, be seen as Lie’s personal achievement. Lie had gained the support of property tycoon John D. Rockefeller, who gave the UN a USD 8.5 million cheque to pay for the land site. The UN headquarters on Manhattan was completed in 1952. The advent of the Cold War influenced Lie’s period as Secretary General.

His appointment of mostly American citizens to the new UN posts led to some labeling him as biased towards the United States. But Lie repeatedly demonstrated his independence. He developed the role of Secretary General into something more than an administrative post, and secured the right of the Secretary General to take political initiatives towards the UN Security Council. Trygve Lie's vision for peace “The world can never accept the thesis of despair -the thesis of irrevocable and irreconcilable conflict.” Trygve Lie, July 20, 1950 In the first half of 1950, Lie presented his Twenty-Year Program for Achieving Peace Through the United Nations. In the plan Lie proposed a new international machinery to control atomic energy and stall the arms race. He also proposed the establishment of a UN force to prevent or stop localized outbreaks of violence. In a letter to the Security Council dated 6 June 1950, he said: "I felt it my duty to suggest a fresh start to be made towards eventual peaceful solution of outstanding problems." To gain support for his project, Lie met with presidents and premiers, ministers and diplomats in Washington, London, Paris and Moscow. But Lie’s efforts were overtaken by events.

The Korean War broke out in June 1950, only a few weeks after he began to circulate his vision for peace. The Secretary-General supported UN action against North Korea as the aggressor. This caused the Soviet Union to reject him as the UN Secretary General. In 1952 the US hunt for spies and communists in the UN headquarters took off. According to Lie, the combination of these events made his role as Secretary General untenable. In November 1952 he tendered his resignation . In his last speech to the UN General Assembly on April 7, 1953, Trygve Lie called his seven years as Secretary-General the hardest and most challenging of his life. Despite what he called the “destructive forces that threaten our civilisation”, Lie remained hopeful, yet realistic about the UN's prospects; “Our organisation reflects the imperfections of our time, but it is also an expression of the most constructive forces of our world and a symbol of hope for the future. ... I am no Utopian.

I see in the UN a practical approach to peace and progress, not by any quick and easy formulas, but by wise, loyal and persistent use of its institutions by Member States over many years.” Read a transcript from the General Assembly meeting (April 7, 1953) whereTrygve Lie stepped down and Swedish diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld was elected UN Secretary-General. Life after the UN After seven years at helm of the UN, Lie had probably expected a prominent position when he returned to Norway. Rather, the first years gave him ample time to work on his memoirs at his family’s mountain cabin near Røros. From the mid-fifties Lie got back into public life. In 1955 he was appointed county governor of Oslo and Akershus and approached the taks with his usual vitality, whether the issue was new bridges or motorways. In 1959-1960 he chaired a government-appointed commission to enhance foreign investment in Norway and could draw on his international network of contacts from his years at the UN.

In 1963, 67-year old Lie returned to government as Minister of Industry, but within the year he had to take a leave of absence due to a cerebral haemorrhage. He was back at his desk in January 1964, now as Minister of Trade and Shipping. He held this post until the Gerhardsen government resigned following the general election in the autumn of 1965. Trygve Halvdan Lie died on December 30, 1968 of a heart attack. He was 72 years old. Trygve Lie | Norwegian statesman and secretary-general of the United Nations | Britannica.com Norwegian statesman and secretary-general of the United Nations Written By: Alternative Title: Trygve Halvdan Lie Trygve Lie Norwegian statesman and secretary-general of the United Nations Also known as Harald III Sigurdsson Trygve Lie, in full Trygve Halvdan Lie (born July 16, 1896, Kristiania , Nor.—died Dec.

30, 1968, Geilo), Norwegian politician and diplomat, the first secretary-general of the United Nations (1946–52), who resigned largely because of the Soviet Union’s resentment of his support of UN military intervention in the Korean War . Trygve Lie H. Roger-Viollet Educated at the University of Kristiania (Oslo), Lie practiced law and became a leading member of the Norwegian Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet). After the German invasion of Norway in April 1940, he was appointed foreign minister of the Norwegian government-in-exile in London . On Feb. 1, 1946, Lie was elected UN secretary-general for a term of five years. He first was nominated (by Andrey A. Gromyko of the Soviet Union) for president of the General Assembly, a less important office, but was defeated by Paul-Henri Spaak of Belgium. One of Lie’s first tasks was helping to secure the evacuation of Soviet troops from northern Iran .

From May 1947 he had to deal with the war in Palestine that followed the proclamation of the state of Israel and throughout 1948 with the Indian-Pakistani conflict over Kashmir . Only temporary solutions were found to these problems. Trygve Lie becoming the first secretary-general of the United Nations, 1946. Stock footage courtesy The WPA Film Library In 1950 Lie undertook a “peace mission” to the capitals of the great powers, promoting a “20-Year Peace Program” and trying to resist the Soviet attempt to expel Taiwan from the UN. Also in 1950 he urged that the UN admit the People’s Republic of China . After UN armed forces had been authorized to aid the Republic of Korea (South Korea; June 27, 1950), Lie was subjected to official hindrance and personal insult by the Soviet Union. When it became certain that the Soviet Union would veto his reelection in the Security Council, his term was extended for three years (without formal reelection) by the General Assembly. The Soviet Union thereupon ceased to recognize him as secretary-general. He also encountered opposition in the United States as a result of the investigations led by Sen. Joseph R.

McCarthy against suspected communists in the UN. Lie’s secretariat was accused of giving jobs to disloyal U.S. citizens, but no charge of subversion of the United States within the UN could be proved. His mediatory work having become nearly impossible, Lie resigned his office on Nov. 10, 1952. His book In the Cause of Peace was published in 1954. Lie subsequently served as county governor (fylkesmann) of Oslo and Akershus (1955–63), as minister of industry (1963–64), and as minister of commerce (1963–65). Learn More in these related articles: Trygve Lie Biography - Childhood, Life Achievements & Timeline Leaders Trygve Lie Biography Trygve Lie was a Norwegian politician who holds the distinction of becoming the first Secretary-General of the United Nations. Check out this biography to know about his childhood, life, achievements, works & timeline. Quick Facts First Secretary General of the U.N Nationality University of Oslo Image Credit Trygve Lie was a Norwegian politician who holds the distinction of becoming the first Secretary-General of the United Nations.

He was also the foreign minister of Norway during the Norwegian government in exile in London from 1940 to 1945. He had a difficult childhood; his father, a carpenter by profession, abandoned the family, when Trygve Lie was only a child and it was his mother who raised him by running an enterprise of her own. He graduated with a law degree from the University of Oslo. He had joined the Labour Party at the age of 16 and was made the partyâs national secretary soon after his graduation. He served as a legal consultant for the Workers' National Trade Union for several years and later on became a member of the parliament. He served in different capacities, such as, Minister of Justice, Minister of Trade, and Minister of Supplies before he was named as Foreign Minister of the Norwegian government-in-exile after the country was invaded by Germany during the Second World War. Following the end of the Second World War, he became the first secretary general of the United Nations and over the course of his tenure that lasted six years he tackled several crises in different parts of the world. He went back to Norwegian politics after the end of his UN tenure.

Childhood & Early Life Trygve Lie was born on 16 July 1896, in Kristania (present day Oslo,) in Norway, to Martin Lie and his wife Hulda. His father was a carpenter by trade while his mother ran a boarding house and cage. He had a sister. In 1902, his father abandoned the family and emigrated to the United States. He and his sister were raised by their mother singlehandedly.He joined the Labour Party in 1916 while he was still in his teens. He graduated with a law degree from the University of Oslo in 1919. Soon after his graduation, he was named Labour Partyâs national secretary. From 1919 to 1921, he was editor-in-chief for âDet 20de Aarhundreâ ('The 20th Century'), a periodical published by the Norwegian Labour Party. Career In 1922, TrygveLie became the legal advisor for the Workersâ National Trade Union and remained its advisor till 1935.

In 1922, he was made a member of the executive committee of Aker municipality council. He served in this capacity till 1931. After the Labour Party came to power in Norway, Lie was appointed as the Minister of Justice in 1935 in the government headed by Prime Minister Johan Nygaardsvold. In 1937, he became a member of the Norwegian Parliament after he won the election from Akershus. In 1939, he became the Minister of Trade but served in that capacity for four months. In the same year, he was made the Minister of Supplies, a position he would hold for two years. In 1941, following the invasion of Norway by Nazi Germany, the Norwegian government in exile that operated from London named Lie as their foreign minister. In 1945, Lie was the leader of the delegation from Norway at the United Nations conference that was held in San Francisco in the United States and was one of the key figures who was responsible for creating the provisions laid out in the United Nations Security Council. In 1946, he was elected as the first Secretary General of the United Nations.

As Secretary General, he was involved in evacuating Soviet soldiers from the Northern part of Iran. From 1947 onwards, Lie dealt with the unrest created by the proclamation of Israel as a separate state and the war that followed in Palestine. The following year he mediated in relation to the conflict in Kashmir between India and Pakistan, however no solution could be reached. Lie was instrumental in starting a â20 year peace programâ in 1950, however his attempts to induct China into the UN and the resistance against the Soviet Unionâs opposition to Taiwanâs presence in the UN made his position untenable. He sent the armed forces of the UN to Republic of Korea during the Korean War and that was something that further alienated him from the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union derecognised him as the Secretary General of the UN and the United States Senator Joseph McCarthy accused him of giving jobs to American communists at the UN. Due to his rising troubles with the two super powers, Lie resigned from his post on 10 November 1952. Subsequently, he spent the rest of his life by remaining active in Norwegian politics. He served as the County Governor of Oslo and Akershus.

He also served as the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Mining and Shipping. Major Works As the first Secretary General of the United Nations, Lie worked hard to turn the organisation into a respectable force in the world of diplomacy and built the sprawling building in New York even though when he started out the organisation operated from a tiny property. Awards & Achievements In 1966, Trygve Lie was bestowed with Norwayâs highest civilian honour, âMedal for Outstanding Civic Serviceâ. Personal Life & Legacy In 1921, he married HjÃ¸rdis JÃ¸rgensen. They had three daughters named Sissel, Guri and Mette. His wife died in 1960. Trygve Lie died of a heart attack on 30 December 1968, in Geilo, Norway, at the age of 72.

Translate this page to Spanish, French, Hindi, Portuguese Pictures of Trygve Lie UN Secretary-General Trygve Halvdan Lie | United Nations Archives and Records Management UN Secretary-General Trygve Halvdan Lie Those who gave their lives in order that we may be free, those who lost their homes, those who suffered, and still suffer, from the consequences of war have given us a sacred mandate: that is, to build a firm foundation for the peace of the world.” Trygve Lie, 2 February 1946. Biography Trygve Halvdan Lie was born on 16 July 1896, in Oslo, Norway, He was educated at Oslo University where he obtained a law degree in 1919. Mr. Lie became a member of the Norwegian Labor Party Youth Organization in 1911. He was an assistant to the secretary of the Labor Party from 1919 to 1922, a legal adviser to the Norwegian Trade Union Federation from 1922 to 1935, and national executive secretary of the Labor Party in 1926. In the Labor Party Government formed by Johan Nygaardsvold, Mr.

Lie was Minister of Justice (1935 to 1939), Minister of Trade and Industries (July to September 1939), and Minister of Supply and Shipping (1939-1941). In that capacity he evolved the provisional measures that saved the Norwegian fleet for the Allies, after the German invasion in April 1940. In December 1940, he became acting Foreign Minister and was appointed Foreign Minister of Norway in 1941. Mr. Lie had been elected a member of the Norwegian Parliament in 1936 and was re-elected in 1945. Mr. Lie led the Norwegian delegation to the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco, April 1945, and was Chairman of Commission III for drafting the Security Council provisions of the Charter. Soon after becoming Chairman of the Norwegian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in London, on 1 February 1946 Mr. Lie was elected the first Secretary-General of the United Nations. He was formally installed by the General Assembly at its 22nd meeting on 2 February 1946.

On 1 November 1950, the General Assembly extended Mr. Lie’s term for another three though he resigned as Secretary-General of the United Nations in November 1952. Archives of Secretary-General Trygvie Lie – AG-013 Fonds consists of a very small proportion of the archives of Secretary-General Trygve Lie. Related archives Minutes of the Secretary-General's private meetings with Under-Secretaries-General are arranged as part of Secretary-General Hammarskjold's archives, but include the full 1946-1953 period as well; see series S-0847. Series S-0844 also includes files of Secretary-General Trygve Lie. The Andrew Cordier Papers at Columbia University Library in New York include the following Secretary-General Trygve Lie archives: Trip files, 1947-1952 (boxes 116-117); Subject files, 1948-1952 (part of box 130).

In 1966, Trygve Lie donated to the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo, Norway, a collection of various documents: correspondence, manuscripts, photos and scrapbooks (Brevs. 410 and Ms.fol. 2615-2630). There is available a scanned copy of a handwritten list of correspondents in Brevs. 410, letters to and from Trygve Lie ( Handwritten list of correspondents in Brevs ). As of 2005, these papers have been reloacted to the National Archives of Norway (Riksarkivet) in Oslo and can be found on Trygve Lie's archives page . In addition, the National Library of Norway holds many letters from him in other archival collections. These include documents ( Trygve Lie in HANSKE online manuscript catalogue ) registered in the online catalogue Hanske ); and several sound recordings ( Sound recordings Trygve Lie ). Important Norwegians in UN history Important Norwegians in UN history UN Bodies Important Norwegians in UN history Norwegian lawyer and politician Trygve Lie was the United Nations first Secretary General from 1946 to 1953.

Read more about his life and legacy, and learn about some of the policies he inspired. Norwegian teacher Frieda Dalen was the first woman to ever address the General Assembly. Trygve Lie's seven years for peace - a bio Norwegian lawyer and politician Trygve Lie was the United Nations first Secretary General. He held the post for seven years, from 1946 to 1953, and famously described it as "the most difficult job in the world". In the aftermath of the Second World War and at the onset of the Cold War, Lie sought to make his office a “source for peace”. Read more The Trygve Lie Symposium on Fundamental Freedoms The Annual Trygve Lie Symposium on Fundamental Freedoms seeks to explore ways in which the international community can strengthen its promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Symposium is held each September during the High-level Debate of the United Nations General Assembly. Read more List of United Nations Secretaries-General | Article about List of United Nations Secretaries-General by The Free Dictionary List of United Nations Secretaries-General | Article about List of United Nations Secretaries-General by The Free Dictionary Related article: United Nations United Nations (UN), international organization established immediately after World War II.

It replaced the League of Nations. In 1945, when the UN was founded, there were 51 members; 193 nations are now members of the organization (see table entitled United Nations Members). ..... Click the link for more information. United Nations Secretaries-General Dates in Office Trygve Halvdan Lie Lie, Trygve Halvdan , 1896–1968, Norwegian statesman, first secretary-general of the United Nations. A lawyer and Labor party leader, he was Norwegian minister of justice (1935–39) and minister of trade and supply (1939–41). ..... Click the link for more information. Norwegian 1946–53 Dag Hammarskjöld Hammarskjöld, Dag , 1905–61, Swedish statesman, secretary-general of the United Nations (1953–61). He attended the universities of Uppsala and Stockholm (Ph.D., 1934). ..... Click the link for more information.

Swedish 1953–61 U Thant Thant, U , 1909–74, Burmese diplomat, secretary-general of the United Nations (1962–72). Educated at University College, Yangon, he later held positions in education, the press, and broadcasting. ..... Click the link for more information. Burmese 1962–71 Kurt Waldheim Waldheim, Kurt , 1918–2007, Austrian diplomat, secretary-general of the United Nations (1972–81) and president of Austria (1986–92). He entered diplomatic service after World War II, serving in France and Canada. ..... Click the link for more information. Austrian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Pérez de Cuéllar, Javier, 1920–, Peruvian diplomat, secretary-general of the United Nations (1982–92). He entered the Peruvian foreign service in 1940 and served in several posts, including ambassador to the USSR (1969–71) and the United Nations ..... Click the link for more information.

Peruvian 1982–91 Boutros Boutros-Ghali Boutros-Ghali, Boutros , 1922–2016, Egyptian statesman, secretary-general of the United Nations (1992–96). Born into a politically connected Coptic Christian family, he earned degrees in law at the universities of Cairo (LL.B., 1946) and Paris (Ph.D., 1949). ..... Click the link for more information. Egyptian 1992–96 Kofi Annan Annan, Kofi Atta 1938–, Ghanaian diplomat, secretary-general of the United Nations (1997–2006), b. Kumasi. The scion of a family of Fante chieftains, he studied at Macalester College, St. Paul, Minn. (grad. 1961), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.A. ..... Click the link for more information. Ghanaian Ban Ki-Moon Ban Ki-Moon , 1944–, South Korean diplomat, secretary-general of the United Nations (2007–), b.

Chungju, grad. Seoul National Univ. (B.S., 1970), Kennedy School of Government, Harvard (M.P.A., 1985). ..... Click the link for more information. South Korean 2007–

Question: What nationality was Trygve Lie, the first Secretary General of the United Nations?
Answer: NORWEGIAN