Trygve Lie Biography

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 party’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.