Johan Nygaardsvold
|
|
Nygaardsvold_poster.jpg
Johan Nygaardsvold (September 6, 1879 - March 13, 1952) was a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He was Prime Minister of Norway from 1935 to 1945 (from 1940 in exile in London)1.
Political career
Nygaardsvold was born in Hommelvik, the main center of the municipality of Malvik in the county of Sør-Trøndelag to a tenant farmer and his wife. His father as a founding member of the first labor union in the area, and Johan took his first job as a lumber mill worker when he was 12.
Nygaardsvold emigrated to Canada in 1902, where he took the name John Westby. He took jobs in British Columbia, Kalispell, Montana, and Spokane, Washington before returning to Norway in 1907. In 1910, he was elected to the board of education for the Labour Party, and rose quickly through the ranks in local politics. In 1916, he was elected to the Norwegian parliament for the first time, serving continuously until 1949. He worked as a laborer in the Swedish lumber industry during the summers in the first few years. From 1920 to 1922 he served as the mayor for his home town of Malvik.
In 1928, Nygaardsvold is appointed minister of agriculture in the short-lived Christopher Hornsrud cabinet. In 1935, he is asked to form a government. He served as prime minister from then until June 25, 1945. He retired from politics in 1949 and died of cancer in 1952.
Historical legacy
Known as "Gubben" in his time, Nygaardsvold had immense popular appeal and was given credit for the Labour Party's election results in 1933. Nygaardsvold was the prime minister in the second Labour Party cabinet in Norway, after he helped formulate the so-called "crisis accord" with the Farmers' Party. His government's domestic policy was largely dedicated to recovering from the Great Depression, but it is most noted for its foreign and military policy in the years leading up to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany and his administration in exile from 1940 to 1945. The investigative commission that issued a report after the war found that he could not be absolved from responsibility for the lack of operational readiness for the German invasion, but gave him credit for his management of a unity government in exile. He was awarded an honorary salary for his service in exile, but refused to accept it.
Nygaardsvold announced in 1942 that he would resign as soon as the war ended, which he did.
1 Nygaardsvold, along with his cabinet as well as the entire parliament, resided in exile in London during WWII while Norway was occupied by Nazi-Germany. In parts of this period Vidkun Quisling, leader of non-democratic political party Nasjonal Samling, assumed a degree of formal power, but in reality the country was governed by the occupants, represented by Reichskommissar Josef Terboven.
| Preceded by: Johan Ludwig Mowinckel | Prime Minister of Norway 1935–1945 | Succeeded by: Einar Gerhardsen |