Olof Palme

Olof Palme
Prime Minister of Sweden
In office 14 October 1969 – 8 October 1976
Monarchs	Gustav VI Adolf, Carl XVI Gustaf
Preceded by	Tage Erlander
Succeeded by	Thorbjörn Fälldin
In office 8 October 1982 – 28 February 1986
Monarch	Carl XVI Gustaf
Deputy	Ingvar Carlsson
Preceded by	Thorbjörn Fälldin
Succeeded by	Ingvar Carlsson
Personal details
Born	(1927-01-30)30 January 1927 Stockholm, Sweden
Died	28 February 1986(1986-02-28) (aged 59) Stockholm, Sweden
Political party	Social Democratic
Spouse	Lisbet Palme (née Beck-Friis)

Sven Olof Joachim Palme () (30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician.

Palme was the leader of the Social Democratic Party from 1969 until his assassination in 1986. He was also the Prime Minister of Sweden twice during this period, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet government from 1982 until his death. Palme's murder was the first of its kind in modern Swedish history and had an impact across Scandinavia.

Early life and education

Olof Palme (who played himself in an uncredited role in the movie "I Am Curious (Yellow)") and Lena Nyman, taken at the Guldbagge Award ceremony. Ms. Nyman won the 1967 award for Best Actress in a leading role.

Palme was born in Östermalm, Stockholm, Sweden. Although he came from an upper-class background, his political orientation came to be influenced by Social Democratic ideas and ideals. His travels in the Third World, as well as the United States – where he saw deep economic inequality and racial segregation – helped to define those views.

On a scholarship, he studied at Kenyon College, Ohio 1947–1948, graduating with a B.A. in less than a year. Inspired by radical debate in the student community, he wrote a critical essay on Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom. Palme wrote his senior honor thesis on United Automobile Union, which was led at the time by Walter Reuther. After graduation he traveled throughout the country and eventually ended up in Detroit, where his hero Reuther agreed to an interview which lasted several hours. In later years, Palme regularly remarked during his many subsequent American visits, that the United States had made him a socialist, a remark that oftentimes has caused confusion. Within the context of his American experience, it was not that Palme was repelled by what he found in America, but rather that he was inspired by it.

After hitchhiking through the U.S., he returned to Sweden to study law at Stockholm University. During his time at university, Palme became involved in student politics, working with the Swedish National Union of Students. In 1951, he became a member of the social democratic student association in Stockholm, although it is asserted he did not attend their political meetings at the time. The following year he was elected President of the Swedish National Union of Students.

Palme attributed his becoming a socialist to three major influences:

• In 1947, he attended a debate on taxes between the Social Democrat Ernst Wigforss, the conservative Jarl Hjalmarsson and the liberal Elon Andersson;
• The time he spent in the United States in the 1940s made him realise how wide the class divide was in America, and the extent of racism against blacks; and,
• A trip to Asia in 1953 had opened his eyes to the perceived consequences of colonialism and imperialism.

Political career

In 1953, Palme was recruited by the social democratic prime minister Tage Erlander to work in his secretariat. From 1955 he was a board member of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League and lectured at the Youth League College Bommersvik.

In 1957 he was elected as an MP (Swedish: riksdagsledamot).

Olof Palme held several cabinet posts from 1963. In 1967 he became Minister of Education, and the following year, he was the target of strong criticism from left-wing students protesting against the government's plans for university reform. When party leader Tage Erlander stepped down in 1969, Palme was elected as the new leader by the Social Democratic party congress and succeeded Erlander as Prime Minister.

Palme became, alongside Raoul Wallenberg and Dag Hammarskjöld, the most internationally-known Swedish politician of the 20th century, on account of his 125-month tenure as Prime Minister, fierce opposition to American foreign policy and his assassination.

His protégé and political ally, Bernt Carlsson, who was appointed UN Commissioner for Namibia in July 1987, also suffered an untimely death. Carlsson was killed in the Pan Am Flight 103 crash on December 21, 1988 en route to the UN signing ceremony in New York the following day.

Policies

Olof Palme at Norra Bantorget, May Day 1973

As leader of a new generation of Swedish Social Democrats, Olof Palme was often described as a "revolutionary reformist". Domestically, his socialist views – especially the Social Democrat drive to expand Labour Union influence over business – engendered a great deal of hostility from more conservatively inclined Swedes. Shortly before his assassination, Palme had been accused of being pro-Soviet and not sufficiently safeguarding Sweden's national interest. Arrangements had therefore been made for him to go to Moscow to discuss a number of contentious bilateral issues, including alleged Soviet submarine incursions into Swedish waters (see U 137).

On the international scene, Palme was a political figure because of his:

• harsh and emotional criticism of the United States over the Vietnam War;
• vocal opposition to the crushing of the Prague Spring by the Soviet Union;
• campaigning against nuclear weapons proliferation;
• criticism of the Franco Regime in Spain;
• opposition to apartheid and support for economic sanctions against South Africa;
• support – both political and financial – for the African National Congress (ANC) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO); and,
• meeting with Cuba's president Fidel Castro.

All of this ensured that Palme had many opponents (as well as many friends) abroad.

On 21 February 1968, Palme (then Minister of Education) participated in a protest in Stockholm against the U.S. involvment in the war in Vietnam together with the North Vietnamese Ambassador to the Soviet Union Nguyen Tho Chan. The protest was organized by the Swedish Committee for Vietnam and Palme and Nguyen were both invited as speakers. As a result of this, the U.S. recalled its Ambassador from Sweden and Palme was fiercly criticised by the opposition for his participation in the protest.

On 23 December 1972, Palme (then Prime Minister) made a speech in Swedish national radio where he compared the ongoing U.S. bombings of Hanoi to a number of historical atrocities, namely the bombing of Guernica, the massacres of Oradour-sur-Glane, Babi Yar, Katyn, Lidice and Sharpeville, and the extermination of Jews and other groups at Treblinka. The U.S. government called the comparison a "gross insult" and once again decided to freeze its diplomatic relations with Sweden (this time the freeze lasted for over a year).

Despite such associations and contrary to stated Social Democratic Party policy, Sweden had in fact secretly maintained extensive military co-operation with the West over a long period, and was even under the protection of a U.S. military security guarantee (see Swedish neutrality during the Cold War). Palme was said to have had a profound impact on people's emotions; he was very popular among many on the left, but equally detested by the right. This was due in part to his international activities, especially those directed against the United States, and in part to his aggressive and outspoken debating style.

Asked about Palme, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once answered that he usually disliked the people he agreed with and liked the people he disagreed with, adding dryly: "So Palme, I liked - a lot" .,

Assassination

Main article: Olof Palme assassination

Olof Palme could often be seen without any bodyguard protection, and the night of his murder was one such occasion. Walking home from a cinema with his wife Lisbet Palme on the central Stockholm street Sveavägen, close to midnight on February 28, 1986, the couple were attacked by a gunman. Palme was fatally shot in the back at close range 23:21 CET. A second shot wounded Lisbet Palme.

Police said that a taxi-driver used his mobile radio to raise the alarm. Two young girls sitting in a car close to the scene of the shooting also tried to help the prime minister. He was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival at 00:06 CET on March 1, 1986. Mrs Palme's wound was treated and she recovered.

Deputy prime minister Ingvar Carlsson immediately assumed the duties as prime minister and as new leader of the Social Democratic Party.

Memorials

Plaque commemorating exact spot of Palme's murder. In Swedish, the text reads "På denna plats mördades Sveriges statsminister Olof Palme den 28 februari 1986", which, in English, translates to "On this spot, Sweden's Prime minister Olof Palme was murdered on February 28, 1986"

Palme's grave and monument at nearby Adolf Fredriks kyrka's cemetery

• On April 23, 1986, a part of the street Tunnelgatan in Stockholm was renamed Olof Palmes gata.
• There is also an Olof Palmes gata in Gothenburg, as well as in numerous other Swedish cities.
• Both Örebro, Västerås and Sundsvall have squares called Olof Palmes torg.
• Uppsala,Gothenburg and Södertälje have squares called Olof Palmes plats.
• A street in the Østerbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark is called Olof Palmes Gade.
• A street in the Skejby district of Aarhus, Denmark is called Olof Palmes Allé.
• A street in Badajoz, Spain is called "Olof Palme"
• Olof Palme sétány (lit. "esplanade") is one of the central streets in the Budapest City Park. It also has a memorial stone for Anna Lindh.
• In central Berlin there is a small square named Olof-Palme-Platz, close to Zoologischer Garten Berlin.
• Nicaragua National Conventions Center is called Olof Palme.
• In south New Delhi, India there is a road called Olof Palme Marg.
• In Hiddenhausen, Germany, there is a school named after Olof Palme, the Olof-Palme-Gesamtschule.
• In Kiel, Germany, there is a street (the B76) called Olof-Palme-Damm.
• In Messestadt Riem, Germany the site of the old Munich-Riem airport, there is a street named Olof-Palme-Straße [2]
• In Delft, Netherlands, there is a street named Olof Palmestraat which houses an IKEA shopping center.
• In Moscow, Russia, there is a street named Ulofa Pal'me. The Swedish embassy is located there.
• In Athens, Greece, in the traditionally left wing municipality of Kaisariani there is a small street as well as a large avenue called Olof Palme.
• In Thessaloniki, Greece, in the municipality of Kalamaria there is a park called "Olof Palme". The name was given in 1996. At that time a statue was also created and placed in the park.
• In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a municipal primary school was renamed "Olof Palme" in honor of the Swedish minister, after his death.
• In Puglia, Italy, there is a circular road named Via Sven Olof Palme that encircles the town of Bitonto.
• In Chiaravalle, an Italian town near Ancona, there's a road called Via Olof Palme.
• The main street of Kulu, a subprovince of Konya, Turkey, is named after Olof Palme. There is also a park with the same name.
• In Karşıyaka, İzmir, Turkey, there is a park called Olof Palme İnsan Hakları Parkı. (Human Rights Park in Memory of Olof Palme)
• In Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the neighbourhood of Saavedra, there is a short street called Olof Palme.
• At Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, one of Palme's alma maters, the Anthropology and Sociology building is named Palme House in his honor.
• In Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, there is a street called Olof Palme , in the Los Prados sector. It has been often mislabeled as Olaf Palmer or Oloff Palme.
• In Valencia, Spain, there is a square named Olof Palme.
• In Madrid, Spain, there is a park named Olof Palme.
• In Silémaní, Iraqi Kurdistan, there is a garden named after Olof Palme.
• In Windhoek, Namibia, there is a street named Olof Palme.
• In Maputo, capital of Mozambique there is a street named after Olof Palme in the very center of the city behind the cathedral.
• In Belgrade, Serbia, in the residential quarter of Zvezdara there is a street named Ulofa Palmea.
• In Havana, Cuba, in the La Lisa quarter there is a school named Escuela Olof Palme.
• In Rezé, France, there is a Rue Olof Palme close to the streets called Konrad Adenauer and Alcide De Gasperi.
• In Émerainville, France, there is a Boulevard Olof Palme.
• In Hénin-Beaumont, France, there is a Boulevard Olof Palme which houses an IKEA shopping center.
• The hip hop group The Latin Kings has put music to one of Olof Palme's speeches.
• Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen dedicated his third studio album "Trilogy" to the memory of Olof Palme.

The Olof Palme Memorial Fund

The Olof Palme Memorial Fund for International Understanding and Common Security was established by Olof Palme's family and by the Social Democratic Party to honour his memory.

See also

• Anna Lindh
• Bernt Carlsson
• Dag Hammarskjöld
• Caleb J. Anderson
• Olof Palme International Center
• Olof Palme Prize

External links

• Olofpalme.org Official page of the Olof Palme Archives with various documents.
• Selected Speeches by Olof Palme - Speeches on Africa in English.
• Olof Palme's visit to Cuba - Speech by Fidel Castro on the Swedish-Cuban friendship, 1975.