Dag Hammarskjöld (Sweden) Term of Office: 1953-1961

Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld was the Secretary-General of the United Nations from 10 April 1953 until 18 September 1961 when he died in a plane accident while on a peace mission in the Congo. He was born on 29 July 1905 in Jönköping in south-central Sweden. The fourth son of Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, Prime Minister of Sweden during the years of World War I, and his wife Agnes, M.C. (b. Almquist), he was brought up in the university town of Uppsala where his father resided as Governor of the county of Uppland.

Elected to two terms as Secretary-General, Mr. Hammarskjöld was unanimously appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations by the General Assembly on 7 April 1953, on the recommendation of the Security Council. He was re-elected unanimously for another term of five years in September 1957. During his terms as Secretary-General, Mr. Hammarskjöld carried out many responsibilities for the United Nations in the course of its efforts to prevent war and serve the other aims of the UN Charter.