达格•亚尔马•昂内•卡尔•哈马舍尔德自1953年4月10日起担任联合国秘书长，直到1961年9月18日他在刚果从事和平任务时飞机失事殉难。他在1905年7月29日出生于瑞典中南方的荣彻平，是第一次世界大战期间瑞典首相亚马尔•哈马舍尔德和他的夫人昂内斯M. C. (本家姓阿尔姆奎斯特)的第四个儿子，生长在大学城乌普萨拉，该城是他的父亲担任乌普兰省长时的驻地。
哈马舍尔德先生18岁中学毕业，进入乌干达普萨拉大学，主修法国文学史、社会哲学和政治经济，两年后以优异成绩获文学士学位。其后三年，他在原校攻读经济学，23岁获经济学的哲学学士学位。他继续攻读两年，在1930年获得法学士学位。
接着，哈马舍尔德先生迁居斯德哥尔摩，担任政府的一个失业问题委员会的秘书(1930-1934)。同时，他撰写经济学博士论文，题目是“Konjunkturspridningen”(商业周期的分布)。1933年，他获斯德哥尔摩大学博士学位，受聘为该校政治经济学助理教授。
他担任瑞典国家银行秘书一年之后，31岁被任命为财政部常任国务秘书。1941年至1948年同时兼任国家银行董事长。董事会的六名董事由议会任命，董事长则由政府任命。这是第一次一人同时担任该银行董事长和财政部国务秘书两职。
1945年初，他被任命为内阁财政和经济问题顾问，除其他事项外，负责安排并协调政府对战时和战后所引起的各种经济问题的个别规划。这几年中，哈马舍尔德先生在制订瑞典的财政政策方面担任重要角色。他带头同其他国家——包括美国和联合王国——进行一系列的贸易和金融谈判。
1947年，他被派到外交部去担任国管秘书，负责一切经济问题。1949年，他被任命为外交部秘书长，1951年入阁担任不管部大臣。实际上，他担任副外交大臣，专门处理经济问题和各种密切经济合作计划。
1947年建立马歇尔计划的机制时，他是出席巴黎会议的代表之一。他担任瑞典出席1948年巴黎欧洲经济合作会议首席代表。有几年他担任欧洲经济合作会议执行委员会副主席。1950年，他担任瑞典出席UNISCAN代表团团长，该机构成立的目的是促进联合王国与北欧国家之间的经济合作。他还担任政府主持的经济研究所的咨询委员会委员(1937-1948)。
1951年至1952年，他担任瑞典出席联合国大会第六届常会代表团副团长，1952年至1953年担任瑞典出席大会第七届会议代表团代理团长。
哈马舍尔德先生虽然曾在社会民主党内阁中任职，但始终未曾加入任何政党，以政坛独立人士自居。
1954年12月20日，他被选为瑞典科学院院士。他当选后接替他的父亲以前在科学院中的席位。
1953年4月7日，大会根据安全理事会的推荐一致任命哈马舍尔德先生为联合国秘书长。1957年，他再次被一致推选连任，任期五年。
哈马舍尔德先生在秘书长任内，在联合国努力防止战争和实现宪章其他宗旨方面，为联合国履行许多职务。
在中东，这些职务包括：不断进行外交活动，支持《以色列与阿拉伯国家停战协定》，并促进该地区更良好、更和平的状况；1956年组成联合国紧急部队(紧急部队)及担任部队后来的管理工作；1957年清理苏伊士运河并协助和平解决苏伊士运河的争端；1958年组成并管理联合国黎巴嫩观察组(联黎观察组)，并在约旦设立秘书长特别代表办事处。
继他于1954年12月30日至1955年1月13日访问北京之后，中华人民共和国释放在朝鲜联合国指挥部统辖下服役期间被拘留的15名美国飞行员。哈马舍尔德先生还到过非洲、亚洲、欧洲、南北美洲和中东的许多国家，不是为了执行特殊任务，就是为了进一步认识各会员国的官员和各个领域的问题。
其中有一次旅程，从1959年12月18日至1960年1月31日，秘书长访问了非洲21个国家和地区--他后来把这次旅程形容作“以研究和了解情况为目的的一次纯粹专业旅行”，在旅程中，他说他“对今日非洲在政治方面的每种重要见解几乎作了一次剖析”。
1960年稍后，刚果共和国总统约瑟夫•卡萨-武布和总理帕特里斯•卢蒙巴在7月12日发出一封电报，要求“紧急派遣”联合国军事援助团到刚果，秘书长遂在7月13日一次夜间会议上向安全理事会讲话，请安理会对这项要求采取“极其迅速的”行动。继安全理事会采取行动后，成立联合国驻刚果部队，秘书长本人也因联合国在当地的行动而度次前往刚果。到刚果去的头两次出差是在1960年7月和8月。继而在翌年1月，秘书长另一次出差去南非联邦处理该国的种族问题，中途在刚果停留。第四次到刚果出差是9月12日开始，因飞机失事殉难而中止。
至于其他方面的工作，哈马舍尔德先生负责于1955年和1958年在日内瓦组织第一次和第二次联合国和平利用原子能国际会议，并负责定于1962年举行的联合国应用科学技术以利较不发达地区会议的规划。
他曾获英国的牛津大学、美国的哈佛大学、耶鲁大学、普林斯顿大学、哥伦比亚大学、宾州大学、阿默斯特学院、约翰斯•霍普金斯大学、加州大学、乌普萨拉学院和俄亥俄州大学及加拿大的卡尔顿学院和麦吉尔大学的荣誉学位。
Dag HjalmarAgne Carl Hammarskjöld was Secretary-General of the United Nations from 10 April 1953 until 18 September 1961 when he met his death in a plane accident while on a peace mission in theCongo. He was born on 29 July 1905 inJonkopingin south-centralSweden. The fourth son of Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, Prime Minister of Sweden during the years of World War I, and his wife Agnes, M.C. (b. Almquist), he was brought up in the university town of Uppsala where his father resided as Governor of the county of Uppland.
At 18, he was graduated from college and enrolled inUppsalaUniversity. Majoring in French history of literature, social philosophy and political economy, Mr. Hammarskjöld received, with honors, his Bachelor of Arts degree two years later. The next three years he studied economics, at the same university, where he received a "filosoficlicenciat" degree in economics at the age of 23. He continued his studies for two more years to become a Bachelor of Laws in 1930.
Mr. Hammarskjöld then moved toStockholm, where he became a secretary of a governmental committee on unemployment (1930-1934). At the same time he wrote his doctor's thesis in economics, entitled, "Konjunkturspridningen" (The Spread of the Business Cycle). In 1933 he received his doctor's degree from theUniversityofStockholm, where he was made assistant professor in political economy.
At the age of 31 and after having served one year as secretary in the National Bank ofSweden, Mr. Hammarskjöld was appointed to the post of Permanent Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Finance. He concurrently served as Chairman of the National Bank's Board, from 1941 to 1948. Six of the Board's members are appointed by Parliament and the Chairman by the Government. This was the first time that one man had held both posts, the Chairmanship of the Bank's Board and that of Under-Secretary of the Finance Ministry.
Early in 1945, he was appointed an adviser to the Cabinet on financial and economic problems, organizing and coordinating, among other things, different governmental planning for the various economic problems that arose as a result of the war and the postwar period. During these years, Mr. Hammarskjöld played an important part in shapingSweden's financial policy. He led a series of trade and financial negotiations with other countries, among them theUnited Statesand theUnited Kingdom.
In 1947 he was appointed to the Foreign Office, where he was responsible for all economic questions with rank of Under-Secretary. In 1949, he was appointed Secretary-General of the Foreign Office and in 1951, he joined the Cabinet as Minister without portfolio. He became, in effect, Deputy Foreign Minister, dealing especially with economic problems and various plans for close economic cooperation.
He was Vice-Chairman of the Swedish Delegation to the Sixth Regular Session of the United Nations General Assembly inParis1951-1952, and acting Chairman of his country's delegation to the Seventh General Assembly inNew Yorkin 1952-1953.
Although he served with the Social-Democratic cabinet, Mr. Hammarskjöld never Joined any political party, regarding himself as an independent, politically.
On 20 December 1954, he became a member of theSwedishAcademy. He was elected to take the seat in the Academy previously held by his father. Elected to two terms as Secretary-General Mr. Hammarskjöld was unanimously appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations by the General Assembly on 7 April 1953 on the recommendation of the Security Council. He was reelected unanimously for another term of five years in September 1957.
During his terms as Secretary-General, Mr. Hammarskjöld carried out many responsibilities for the United Nations in the course of its efforts to prevent war and serve the other aims of the Charter.
In the Middle East these included: continuing diplomatic activity in support of the Armistice Agreements between Israel and the Arab States and to promote progress toward better and more peaceful conditions in the area; organization in 1956 of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) and its administration since then; clearance of the Suez Canal in 1957 and assistance in the peaceful solution of the Suez Canal dispute; organization and administration of the United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon (UNOGIL) and establishment of an office of the special representative of the Secretary-General in Jordan in 1958.
In 1955, following his visit to Peking, 30 December 1954 - 13 January 1955, 15 detained American fliers who had served under the United Nations Command inKoreawere released by the Chinese People's Republic. Mr. Hammarskjöld also traveled to many countries of Africa, Asia, Europe, theAmericasand theMiddle East, either on specific assignments or to further his acquaintance with officials of member governments and the problems of various areas.
On one of these trips, from 18 December 1959 to 31 January 1960, the Secretary-General visited 21 countries and territories in Africa -- a trip he described later as "a strictly professional trip for study, for information", in which he said he had gained a "kind of cross-section of every sort of politically responsible opinion in the Africa of today".
Later in 1960, when President Joseph Kasa-Vubu and Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba of the Republic of the Congo sent a cable on 12 July asking "urgent dispatch" of United Nations military assistance to the Congo, the Secretary-General addressed the Security Council at a night meeting on 13 July and asked the Council to act "with utmost speed" on the request. Following Security Council actions the United Nations Force in theCongowas established and the Secretary-General himself made four trips to theCongoin connection with the United Nations operations there. The first two trips to theCongowere made in July and August 1960. Then, in January of that year, the Secretary-General stopped in theCongowhile en route to the Union of South Africa on another mission in connection with the racial problems of that country. The fourth trip to theCongobegan on 12 September and terminated with the fatal plane accident.
In other fields of work, Mr. Hammarskjöld was responsible for the organization in 1955 and 1958 of the first and second UN international conference on the peaceful uses of atomic energy inGeneva, and for planning a UN conference on the application of science and technology for the benefit of the less developed areas of the world held in 1962. He held honorary degrees fromOxford University,England; in theUnited Statesfrom Harvard, Yale, Princeton,Columbia,Pennsylvania,Amherst, John Hopkins, theUniversityofCalifornia,UppsalaCollege, andOhioUniversity; and inCanadafromCarletonCollegeand fromMcGillUniversity.
