United Nations stained glass staff memorial to Dag Hammarskjöld
and the 15 individuals who died with him.

Dag Hammarskjöld

Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-61) was a remarkable man who lived an extraordinary life and left a lasting legacy. As second Secretary-General of the United Nations he guided the august body into an international force for peace, justice and progress.

Hammarskjöld represented Sweden as a delegate to the United Nations in 1949 and again from 1951 to 1953. Receiving 57 votes out of 60, Hammarskjöld was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1953 for a five-year term and re-elected in 1957. Before turning to the world problems awaiting him, he established a firm base of operations. For his Secretariat of 4,000 people, he drew up a set of regulations defining their responsibilities to the international organization of which they were a part and affirming their independence from narrowly conceived national interests. He made the Secretary-General’s office a major player in world affairs and the dangerous times of the Cold War.

“The pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years in either victory or defeat. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and its errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned.”  –  Dag Hammarskjöld 

NOTE:  The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution in December 2016 to initiate an inquiry into Hammarskjöld’s death.  See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/03/un-to-pursue-further-inquiry-into-death-of-dag-hammarskjold