Trygve Halvdan Lie was born on July 16, 1896, in Oslo, Norway, the son of Martin and Hulda Arnesen Lie. He was educated at Oslo University where he obtained a law degree in 1919. On November 8, 1921, he married Hjordis Joergensen. They had three children-Sissel, Guri and Mette. Mr. Lie became a member of the Norwegian Labor Party Youth Organization in 1911. He was an assistant to the Secretary of the Labor Party from 1919 to 1922, a legal adviser to the Norwegian Trade Union Federation from 1922 to 1935 and National Executive Secretary of the Labor Party in 1926.
In the Labor Party Government formed by Johan Nygaardsvold, Mr. Lie was Minister of Justice from 1935 to 1939, then Minister of Trade and Industries from July to September 1939 and, at the time of the outbreak of the Second World War, became Minister of Supply and Shipping. In that capacity he evolved the provisional measures that saved the Norwegian fleet for the Allies after the German invasion in April 1940. In June that year, when the Norwegian Government decided to continue the fight from abroad, he went to England. He became acting Foreign Minister in December 1940 and was appointed Foreign Minister of Norway in February 1941. Mr. Lie was elected a member of the Norwegian Parliament in 1936 and was re-elected in 1945. On June 12, 1945, the Government of which he was a member resigned. Mr. Lie was appointed Foreign Minister of the interim coalition cabinet and Foreign Minister in the new Labor Party Government in October 1945.
Mr. Lie led the Norwegian delegation to the United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco, April 1945, and was Chairman of Commission III for drafting the Security Council provisions of the Charter. He was also Chairman of the Norwegian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in London in January 1946. On February1, 1946, Mr. Lie was elected the first Secretary-General of the United Nations. He was formally installed by the General Assembly at its 22nd meeting on February 2, 1946. The General Assembly on November 1, 1950 continued Mr. Lie in office for a further three years from February1, 1951. He resigned as Secretary-General of the United Nations in November 1952.
Mr. Lie had the following appointments since leaving the United Nations: Governor of Oslo and Akershus, Chairman of Norway's Board of Energy. By a resolution of the General Assembly in 1958, King Olav of Norway was asked to find a basis on which Ethiopia and Italy could start to settle a border dispute involving the former Italian colony, Somalia. King Olav, in 1959, appointed Mr. Lie as Mediator.
From the United Nations Department of Public Information.
