Trygve Halvdan Lie ( , ; 16 July 1896 – 30 December 1968) was a Norwegian politician, labour leader, government official and author. He served as Norwegian foreign minister during the critical years of the Norwegian government in exile in London from 1940 to 1945. He was the first secretary-general of the United Nations.

Early life

Lie was born in Kristiania (now Oslo) on 16 July 1896. His father, carpenter Martin Lie, left the family to emigrate to the United States in 1902 and was never heard from again. Trygve grew up under poor conditions together with his mother Hulda and a sister who was six at the time. His mother ran a boarding house and café in Grorud in Oslo.

Lie joined the Labour Party in 1911 and was named as the party's national secretary soon after receiving his law degree from the University of Oslo in 1919. Lie was editor-in-chief for Det 20de Aarhundre ('The 20th Century') from 1919 to 1921. From 1922 to 1935 he was a legal consultant for the Workers' National Trade Union (named Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions from 1957). During this period, he acquired a reputation for settling disputes early and bringing test cases before the courts.

Political career

In local politics he served as a member of the executive committee of Aker municipality council from 1922 to 1931. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Akershus in 1937. He was appointed minister of justice when a Labour Party government was formed by Johan Nygaardsvold in 1935. Lie was later appointed minister of trade (July to October 1939) and minister of supplies (October 1939 to 1941).

A socialist from an early age, Lie once met Vladimir Lenin while on a Labour Party visit to Moscow and gave permission for Leon Trotsky to settle in Norway after he was exiled from the Soviet Union.

When Nazi Germany invaded Norway in 1940, Lie ordered all Norwegian ships to sail to Allied ports. In 1941, Lie was named as foreign minister of the Norwegian government-in-exile, and he remained in this position until 1946.

United Nations career

Lie led the Norwegian delegation to the United Nations conference in San Francisco in 1945 and was a leader in drafting the provisions of the United Nations Security Council. He was the leader of the Norwegian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1946. Lie first stood for the election for president of the General Assembly but lost to Paul-Henri Spaak of Belgium. After in January 1946 the Soviet Union opposed the Canadian candidate Lester B. Pearson due to him being a North American and the UN headquarters were also in North America, and the United States opposed both Soviet candidates, those being the Yugoslav ambassador to Washington Stanoye Simic and Wincenty Rzymowski, the foreign minister of Poland, the United States eventually produced Lie as the candidate, to which both powers agreed. He was elected as the first secretary-general of the United Nations by a unanimous vote in the Security Council and by a 46–3 vote in the General Assembly.

As secretary-general, Lie appointed, among others, Jan Pedersen, Raymond Fourier, Oskar Larsen and a wide variety of officials to the positions of under-secretaries-general or special advisors during his tenure, with a tendency to prefer individuals he had previously worked with. Lie supported the foundations of Israel and Indonesia. His passionate support for Israel included passing secret military and diplomatic information to Israeli officials. He sent 50 members of the United Nations guard force from Lake Success to assist the mediator in supervising the truce in the former British Mandate of Palestine in 1948, and the "UNTSO", the first peacekeeping operation, was established by the United Nations. He worked for the withdrawal of Soviet forces in Iran during the Iran crisis of 1946 and a ceasefire in fighting in Kashmir.

In 1948, Lie was involved in mediation attempts between Russia and the West following the Berlin Blockade. In June 1948, he offered to raise the blockade to the UN Security Council as a 'threat to the peace' but was told by the US State Department that this was not necessary. During the war, Lie had wanted an international committee to direct military forces, but this was opposed by the US, and a compromise was reached whereby a unified UN command would be created but under the overall command of a US general. The vote was a consequence of an impasse in the Security Council in which the Soviet Union refused to consider Lie due to his involvement in the Korean War, He also sought to have the People's Republic of China recognized by the United Nations after the Nationalist government was exiled to Taiwan, arguing that the People's Republic was the only government that could fulfill the membership obligations in full.

thumb|left|upright|Resignation of Lie in November 1952

By late 1952, the USSR continued to refuse to acknowledge Lie as secretary-general and, having also been accused by Joseph McCarthy of hiring "disloyal" Americansan allegation that he attributed to the pressing need for UN civil servants following the establishment of the UNLie resigned on 10 November 1952.

The UN came under US official scrutiny after the conviction of Alger Hiss, who had served as acting secretary general at the first convening of the UN in San Francisco (in 1945). A State Department report dated 17 January 1951, states:

<blockquote>Subject: McCarran Act—Possible Conflict with Headquarters Agreement<br />In conversation with Abe Feller in New York recently he expressed the view that the regulations which have been issued under the McCarran Act make it fairly clear to him that there is likely to be some conflict between that Act and the way in which it is being interpreted and the Headquarters Agreement. He expressed the view that in the event of such conflict the UN secretariat would be forced to resort to the arbitration procedure under the Agreement. He stated he thought this would be very unfortunate and wondered whether any consideration was being given to a general amendment to the McCarran Act which would waive its provisions so far as it conflicted with international obligations or international agreements. I told him I did not know whether any amendments were under consideration but that I would bring his view to your attention.</blockquote>

Abraham Feller, general counsel and principal director, Legal Department, United Nations Secretariat, was reportedly a close friend of Alger Hiss. On 14 November 1952, just days after Lie's resignation from the UN, Feller died by suicide, jumping out of the window of his apartment in New York City.

After the United Nations

Lie remained active in Norwegian politics after his resignation from the UN. He was the county governor of Oslo and Akershus, chairman of the Board of Energy, minister of industry, and minister of trade and shipping. He wrote a number of books, including In the Cause of Peace, an account of his years at the UN.

Awards

Trygve Lie was awarded a large number of Norwegian and foreign orders. Among these were the Norwegian highest civilian award Medal for Outstanding Civic Service (Medaljen for borgerdåd) (1966), the Grand Cross of the Order of Dannebrog (1954) and Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav (1953), and the Czechoslovak OWL (1948). He was awarded numerous honorary doctorates by universities throughout the U.S. and Europe. Trygve Lie was the holder of a number of other orders, decorations and other honors.

Legacy

Some scholars rank him at the bottom of all UN secretaries-general; one who "presided over a long list of diplomatic failures, tarnished the UN, and accomplished very little". On the other hand, some scholars argue that Trygve Lie built the United Nations organisation from nothing, with the organization establishing a physical presence in a huge office building in New York, after having started in a small temporary office on Long Island. Trygve Lie Gallery and Trygve Lie Plaza are both located in New York City.

Selected works

  • Den nye arbeidstvistlov, 1933
  • De forente nasjoner, 1949
  • Syv år for freden, 1954 (published in English as In the Cause of Peace: Seven Years with the United Nations)
  • Internasjonal politikk, 1955
  • Leve eller dø. Norge i krig, 1955
  • Med England i ildlinjen 1940–42, 1956
  • Hjemover, 1958
  • Oslo–Moskva–London, 1968

Source:

See also

Citations

General and cited sources

  • Gaglione, Anthony (2001). The United Nations under Trygve Lie, 1945-1953. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. .
  • Barros, James (1989). Trygve Lie and the Cold War: The UN Secretary-General Pursues Peace, 1946-1953. Northern Illinois Univ Press. .
  • Trygve Lie papers at the United Nations Archives
  • About Trygve Lie (Trygve Lie Gallery)
  • Trygve Lie Gallery in New York City
  • Trygve Lie Plaza in New York City
  • Trygve Lie Symposium