Hammarskjöld's tenure was characterized by efforts to strengthen the newly-formed UN both internally and externally. He led initiatives to improve morale and organizational efficiency while seeking to make the UN more responsive to global issues. He presided over the creation of the first UN peacekeeping forces inEgypt (the UNEF) andthe Congo (the ONUC) and personally intervened to defuse or resolve diplomatic crises. Hammarskjöld's second term was cut short when he died in a plane crash while en route tocease-fire negotiations during theCongo Crisis.
Hammarskjöld was and remains well regarded internationally as a capable diplomat and administrator, and his efforts to resolve various global crises led to him being the onlyposthumous recipient of theNobel Peace Prize.[4] In the Western world, his appointment and tenure were hailed as one of the most notable and successful in UN leadership.[5] U.S. presidentJohn F. Kennedy called Hammarskjöld "the greatest statesman of our century".[6] In the third world, however, his legacy is extremely controversial, given his erratic performance in the Congo Crisis, with consequences to this day.[7][8][9]
Hammarskjöld studied first atKatedralskolan and then atUppsala University. By 1930, he had obtainedLicentiate of Philosophy and Master of Laws degrees. Before he finished his law degree he had already obtained a job as Assistant Secretary of the Unemployment Committee.[11]
From 1930 to 1934, Hammarskjöld was Secretary of a governmental committee on unemployment. During this time he wrote his economics thesis,"Konjunkturspridningen" ("The Spread of the Business Cycle"), and received adoctorate fromStockholm University. In 1936, he became a secretary in Sweden's central bank, theRiksbank. From 1941 to 1948, he served as chairman of the Riksbank's General Council.[12]
He helped coordinate government plans to alleviate the economic problems of the post-World War II period and was a delegate to the Paris conference that established theMarshall Plan. In 1950, he became head of the Swedish delegation toUNISCAN, a forum to promote economic cooperation between the United Kingdom and the Scandinavian countries.[2] Although Hammarskjöld served in a cabinet dominated by theSocial Democrats, he never officially joined any political party.[12]
In 1951, Hammarskjöld was vice chairman of the Swedish delegation to theUnited Nations General Assembly in Paris. He became the chairman of the Swedish delegation to theGeneral Assembly in New York in 1952. On 20 December 1954, he was elected to take his father's vacated seat in theSwedish Academy.[2]
The superpowers hoped to seat a Secretary-General who would focus on administrative issues and refrain from participating in political discussion. Hammarskjöld's reputation at the time was, in the words of biographerEmery Kelèn, "that of a brilliant economist, an unobtrusive technician, and an aristo-bureaucrat". As a result, there was little to no controversy in his selection;[17] theSoviet permanent representative,Valerian Zorin, found Hammarskjöld "harmless".[18] Zorin declared that he would be voting for Hammarskjöld, surprising the Western powers.[19] The announcement set off a flurry of diplomatic activity.British Foreign SecretaryAnthony Eden was strongly in favor of Hammarskjöld and asked the United States to "take any appropriate action to induce the [Nationalist] Chinese to abstain".[20] (Sweden recognized the People's Republic of China and faced a potential veto from the Republic of China.) At theU.S. State Department, the nomination "came as a complete surprise to everyone here and we started scrambling around to find out who Mr. Hammarskjold was and what his qualifications were".[21] The State Department authorizedHenry Cabot Lodge Jr., theUS Ambassador, to vote in favor after he told them that Hammarskjöld "may be as good as we can get".[22][23]
Journalist: "We understand you've been designated Secretary-General of the United Nations." Hammarskjöld: "This April Fool's Day joke is in extremely bad taste: it's nonsense!"
–Exchange between a Stockholm journalist and Hammarskjöld, 1 April 1953[17]
On 31 March 1953, theSecurity Council voted 10–0–1 to recommend Hammarskjöld to the General Assembly, with an abstention from Nationalist China.[24] The vote was conducted in secret, and Hammarskjöld was unaware his name had been put forward for the position.[25] Shortly after midnight on 1 April 1953, Hammarskjöld was awakened by a telephone call from a journalist with the news, which he dismissed as anApril Fool's Day joke.[a] He finally believed the news after the third phone call.[16] TheSwedish mission in New York confirmed the nomination at 03:00 and a communique from the Security Council was soon thereafter delivered to him.[26] After consulting with the Swedish cabinet and his father, Hammarskjöld decided to accept the nomination.[24] He sent a wire to the Security Council:[27]
With strong feeling personal insufficiency I hesitate to accept candidature but I do not feel I could refuse to assume the task imposed on me should the [UN General] Assembly follow the recommendation of the Security Council by which I feel deeply honoured.
Later in the day, Hammarskjöld held a press conference at the Swedish Foreign Ministry. According to diplomatSverker Åström, he displayed an intense interest and knowledge in the affairs of the UN, which he had never shown any indication of before.[27]
The UN General Assembly voted 57–1–1 on 7 April 1953 to appoint Dag Hammarskjöld as Secretary-General of the United Nations. Hammarskjöld was sworn in as Secretary-General on 10 April 1953.[24] He was unanimously reelected on 26 September 1957 for another term, taking effect on 10 April 1958.[28]
Immediately following the assumption of the Secretariat, Hammarskjöld attempted to establish a good rapport with his staff. He made a point of visiting every UN department to shake hands with as many workers as possible, eating in the cafeteria as often as possible, and relinquishing the Secretary-General's private elevator for general use.[29] He began his term by establishing his own secretariat of 4,000 administrators and setting up regulations that defined their responsibilities. He was also actively engaged in smaller projects relating to the UN working environment; for example, he spearheaded the building of ameditation room at theUN headquarters, where people can withdraw into themselves in silence, regardless of their faith, creed, or religion.[30]
In 1960, the newly independentCongo asked for UN aid in defusing theCongo Crisis. Hammarskjöld made four trips to Congo, but his efforts toward thedecolonisation of Africa were considered insufficient by theSoviet Union; in September 1960, the Soviet government denounced his decision to send a UN emergency force to keep the peace. They demanded his resignation and the replacement of the office of Secretary-General by a three-man directorate with a built-in veto, the "troika". The objective was, citing the memoirs of Soviet leaderNikita Khrushchev, to "equally represent interests of three groups of countries: capitalist, socialist and recently independent".[33][11]
The UN sent a nearly 20,000-strong peacekeeping force to restore order inCongo-Kinshasa. Hammarskjöld's refusal to place peacekeepers in the service ofLumumba's constitutionally elected government provoked a strong reaction of disapproval from the Soviets. The situation would become more scandalous with the assassination of Lumumba byTshombe's troops. In February 1961, the UN authorized the Peacekeeping Forces to use military force to prevent civil war. The Blue Helmets' attack on Katanga caused Tshombe to flee to Zambia. Hammarskjöld's erratic attitude in not providing support to Lumumba's government, which had been elected by popular vote, drew severe criticism among non-aligned countries and communist and socialist countries.[7] Hammarskjöld knew that the Belgian Government, allegedly supported by the United States, arranged for the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. In the end, his actions were supported only by the United States andBelgium.[8][9]
His final report to the United Nations was some 6,000 words and is considered to be one of his most important. The report was dictated in a single afternoon to his assistant, Hannah Platz.[34]
The circumstances of the crash are still unclear. A 1962 Rhodesian inquiry concluded that pilot error was to blame, while a later UN investigation could not determine the cause of the crash.[38] There is evidence suggesting the plane was shot down.[39][40][41] ACIA report claimed the KGB was responsible.[42]
The day after the crash, former U.S. PresidentHarry Truman commented that Hammarskjöld "was on the point of getting something done when they killed him. Notice that I said 'when they killed him'."[42]
In 1998, documents were discovered that detailed an alleged plot, named Operation Celeste, to assassinate Hammarskjöld. The alleged plot was backed by theCIA,MI6 and a Belgian mining interest and the assassination was to be carried out by theSouth African Institute for Maritime Research, a South African paramilitary organisation. One of the documents stated that CIA directorAllen Dulles agreed that "Dag is becoming troublesome ... and should be removed" and pledged local CIA support for the alleged plot. The information was contained in a file that theSouth African National Intelligence Agency turned over to theSouth African Truth and Reconciliation Commission in relation to the 1993 assassination ofChris Hani, leader of theSouth African Communist Party. The authenticity of the documents could not be substantiated because they were copies instead of originals. More documents related to the alleged plot were discovered by the South African government in 2016.[38]
In 2011, Göran Björkdahl, a Swedish aid worker whose father worked for the UN in Zambia, wrote that in part, he believed that Hammarskjöld's death was a murder that was committed to benefit mining companies likeUnion Minière, after Hammarskjöld had made the UN intervene in the Katanga crisis. Björkdahl based his assertion on interviews with witnesses of the plane crash near the border of the DRC with Zambia and on archival documents.[43][44]
In 2014, newly declassified documents revealed that the American ambassador to the Congo sent a cable to Washington D.C. and in it, he wrote his suspicion that the plane could have been shot down by Belgian mercenary pilot Jan Van Risseghem, commander of the small Katanga Air Force. Van Risseghem died in 2007.[40]
On 16 March 2015, United Nations Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon appointed members to an Independent Panel of Experts that was established for the purpose of examining new information that was related to Hammarskjöld's death. The three-member panel was led byMohamed Chande Othman, theChief Justice of Tanzania, and it included Kerryn Macaulay (Australia's representative to theInternational Civil Aviation Organization) and Henrik Larsen (a ballistics expert from theDanish National Police).[46] The panel's 99-page report, released 6 July 2015, assigned moderate value to nine new eyewitness accounts and transcripts of radio transmissions. Those accounts suggested that Hammarskjöld's plane was already on fire as it was landing and they also suggested that other jet aircraft and other intelligence agents were nearby.[47]
In 2016, the original documents from the 1998 South African investigation surfaced. Those who were familiar with the investigation cautioned that even if they were authentic, the documents could have initially been authored as part of a disinformation campaign.[38]
In 2019, the documentary filmCold Case Hammarskjöld by Danish filmmakerMads Brügger claimed that Jan van Risseghem had told a friend that he shot down Hammarskjöld's aircraft. This went against the official stance maintained by van Risseghem's family that he was not involved in the death of Hammarskjöld. According to an interview with van Risseghem's wife, he was in Rhodesia negotiating the purchase of a plane for the Katanga Air Force, with the logbooks proving that he was not flying for Katanga at the time. The documentary crew interviewed colleagues of van Risseghem's for the film, all of whom supported their theory.[48][49][50] In an interview with Swedish historian Leif Hellström, van Risseghem claimed that he was not in southern Africa at the time the crash happened, and dismissed the idea of his involvement.[50]
A document that was found in France amidst the FondsFoccart (National Archives in Pierrefitte) in November 2021 is a death warrant for Hammarskjöld that contained the acronymOAS, the secret organization that was nestled in the French army at the time ofAlgeria's war for independence. The document reads: "It is high time to put an end to his harmful intrusion ... this sentence common to justice and fairness to be carried out, as soon as possible". The unsigned document is a facsimile that appeared to be a transcription of an original letter.[51]
A spiritual quote by Dag Hammarskjöld engraved in the stone wall within the Peace Chapel of theInternational Peace Garden
In 1953, soon after his appointment as United Nations Secretary-General, Hammarskjöld was interviewed on radio byEdward R. Murrow. In the talk, Hammarskjöld declared:
But the explanation of how a man should live a life of active social service in full harmony with himself as a member of the community of spirit, I found in the writings of those great medieval mystics [Meister Eckhart andJan van Ruysbroek] for whom 'self-surrender' had been the way to self-realization, and who in 'singleness of mind' and 'inwardness' had found the strength to say yes to every demand which the needs of their neighbours made them face, and to say yes also to every fate life had in store for them when they followed the call of duty as they understood it.[53]
Hammarskjöld's only book,Vägmärken (Markings, or more literallyWaymarks), was published in 1963. A collection of his diary reflections, the book starts in 1925, when he was 20 years old, and ends the month before his death in 1961.[54] This diary was found in his New York house, after his death, along with an undated letter addressed to then Swedish PermanentUnder-Secretary for Foreign Affairs,Leif Belfrage [sv]. In this letter, Hammarskjöld wrote:
These entries provide the only true 'profile' that can be drawn ... If you find them worth publishing, you have my permission to do so.
The foreword is written by the English poetW. H. Auden, a friend of Hammarskjöld.[55]
Markings was described by the late theologian Henry P. Van Dusen as "the noblest self-disclosure of spiritual struggle and triumph, perhaps the greatest testament of personal faith written ... in the heat of professional life and amidst the most exacting responsibilities forworld peace and order".[56] Hammarskjöld wrote, for example:
We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours. He who wills adventure will experience it – according to the measure of his courage. He who wills sacrifice will be sacrificed – according to the measure of his purity of heart.[57]
Markings is characterised by Hammarskjöld's intermingling of prose andhaiku poetry in a manner exemplified by the 17th-century Japanese poetBasho in hisNarrow Roads to the Deep North.[58] In his foreword toMarkings, W. H. Auden quotes Hammarskjöld as stating:
In our age, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action.[59]
Hammarskjöld's interest in philosophical and spiritual matters is also proven by the finding ofMartin Buber's main workI and Thou, which he was translating into Swedish, in the wreckage after the plane crash.[60]
Brian Urquhart's biography of Hammarskjöld addressed whatIsrael Shenker described in hisThe New York Times review as "the oft-discussed question of Hammaskjöld's sexuality".[62] Urquhart reports thatTrygve Lie spread rumours of Hammarskjöld's homosexuality but, having interviewed Hammarskjöld's close friends, Urquhart concludes that "no one who knew him well or worked closely with him thought he was a homosexual".[62] Shenker infers from Urquhart's work "that Hammarskjöld was an example, not unique in contemporary politics, of anasexual, somewhatnarcissistic individual" and quoted private papers where Hammarskjöld had written that "the Secretary General of the UN should have an iron constitution and should not be married".[62] Despite Urquhart concluding the rumours were inaccurate,Larry Kramer included Hammarskjöld in the "I belong to a culture" speech in his 1985 playThe Normal Heart.[63][64]
John F. Kennedy: After Hammarskjöld's death, U.S. president John F. Kennedy regretted that he had opposed the UN policy in the Congo and said: "I realise now that in comparison to him, I am a small man. He was the greatest statesman of our century."[6]
In 2011,The Financial Times wrote that Hammarskjöld has remained the benchmark against which later UN Secretaries-General have been judged.[66]
His legacy in the third world is extremely controversial, especially due to his statements to the British representative at the UN,Patrick Dean, that Lumumba was "a communist puppet".[7][8] For theDemocratic Republic of Congo, its erratic performance in the crisis of the 1960s has had disastrous consequences for the country to this day.[9]
Dag Hammarskjöld Library: On 16 November 1961, shortly after his death, the newly completed Library building at United Nations Headquarters in New York was named the Dag Hammarskjöld Library.[67]
Stanford University: Dag Hammarskjöld House, on the Stanford University campus, is a residence cooperative for undergraduate and graduate students with international backgrounds and interests at Stanford.[68]
Dag Hammarskjöld Elementary School: Public elementary school located in Sheepshead Bay,Brooklyn, New York.
Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial Primary School: Government School located in Ndola, Zambia (adjacent to the Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial Crash Site). This School contains the Karl Eriksson Computer Lab (Hammarskjöld and Eriksson knew each other).
Hammarskjöldring is a street inFrankfurt, Germany, connecting the boroughs Mertonviertel and Niederursel.[72]
Dag Hammarskjölds Alle is a street in Copenhagen, Denmark that connects the inner city with the affluent suburb of Østerbro.
Dag Hammarskjølds Gade is a street in Aalborg, Denmark. Headquarters for the regional police, Nordjyllands Politi, are located here.
Dag Hammarskjöldsleden [sv] is a traffic route in Gothenburg, Sweden between Linnéplatsen and Västerleden/Söderleden (E6.20). With a length of 5 km, it also connects to Högsboleden .
Hammarskjöldsingel is a street inAmstelveen, Netherlands.[73]
Prize in Peace and Conflict Studies:Colgate University annually awards a student the Dag Hammarskjöld Prize in Peace and Conflict Studies based on outstanding work in the program.[78]
Postage stamps: Many countries issued postage stamps commemorating Hammarskjöld.[79]
On 6 April 2011, Sweden's central bank, theRiksbank, announced that Hammarskjöld's image would be used on the 1000-kronor banknote, the highest-denomination banknote in Sweden.[80] The new currency was introduced in 2015.[81]
In 1985, Hammerskjöld was one of the names mentioned in the "I Belong to a Culture" speech inLarry Kramer's playThe Normal Heart, where the protagonist includes him in a list of 24 historical gay figures.[63][64]
In 2023, Persbrandt again played the eponymous politician, in the filmHammarskjöld, directed byPer Fly.[7] The film received negative reviews for glossing over its Congo Crisis controversies.[7]
^The nomination was leaked early by a delegate of the Security Council, who informed a correspondent of the vote as they left the council chamber to go to the restroom.[26] Earlier in March, Hammarskjöld had discussed the succession problem of the UN Secretariat with artistBo Beskow [de;no;sv]. When Beskow suggested that Hammarskjöld would be suitable for the office, the latter replied, "Nobody is crazy enough to propose me—and I would be crazy to accept."[27]
^abcLuc De Vos, Emmanuel Gerard, Jules Gérard-Libois en Philippe Raxhon (2004).Lumumba. De complotten?. De moord.ISBN9058262286.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Hamilton, Thomas J. (1 April 1953). "U.N. Chief is Picked".The New York Times. p. 1.
^FRUS 1952–1954 III,Document 213: Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Deputy Director of the Office of United Nations Political and Security Affairs (Popper), 31 March 1953.
^FRUS 1952–1954 III,Document 216: Memorandum of Conversation, by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs (Sandifer), 30 April 1953.
^FRUS 1952–1954 III,Document 211: The United States Representative at the United Nations (Lodge) to the Department of State, 30 March 1953—1:38 p.m.
^FRUS 1952–1954 III,Document 212: Memorandum for the Files by the Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs (Hickerson), 30 March 1953.
^Gail Ramshaw,More Days for Praise: Festivals and Commemorations in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, the publishing arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 2016), p. 220.
Durel, Bernard, op, (2002), «Au jardin secret d'un diplomate suédois:Jalons de Dag Hammarskjöld, un itinéraire spirituel»,La Vie Spirituelle (Paris). T. 82, pp. 901–922.
Urquhart, Brian, (1972),Hammarskjold. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Velocci, Giovanni, cssr, (1998), «Hammarskjold Dag», in Luigi Borriello, ocd – Edmondo Caruana, ocarm – Maria Rosaria Del Genio – N. Suffi (dirs.),Dizionario di mistica. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano, pp. 624–626.
