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The UN honored Dag Hammarskjold.

Yesterday, the UN in New York honored the 50th anniversary of the death of Dag Hammarskjöld.

The UN honors Dag Hammarskjold
Sunday, September 18, will mark the exact date when Hammarskjold – then Secretary-General of the UN – died in a fatal plane crash near Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (today’s Zambia) while on a peace mission to Congo.

At the UN, a wreath was laid by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the Visitors Lobby outside the Meditation Room. Also the opening meeting of the Sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 13 was devoted to a tribute to Hammarskjöld.

Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961) was a Swedish diplomat, economist, and author. An early Secretary-General of the United Nations, he served from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961. He is the only person to have been awarded a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize. Hammarskjöld remains the only U.N. Secretary-General to die in office, and his death occurred en route to cease-fire negotiations. Praised by many, President of the United States John F. Kennedy called Hammarskjöld “the greatest statesman of our century."

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