Dag Hammarskjold Quotes
It is a little bit humiliating when I have to say that Chou En-lai to me appears as the most superior brain I have so far met in the field of foreign politics... so much more dangerous than you imagine because he is so much better a man than you have ever admitted.
Urquhart, Brian. Hammarskjold. Alfred A. Knopf, 1972, p. 118.
Turkey with the decline of the Ottoman Empire, had little experience in modern international politics—and no modern leaders until Ataturk came and modernized the nation. The Turks had allied themselves with Germany in WWI and in the aftermath came out as badly in the peace as they had in the war.
In his relationship with FDR General Marshall was the Senior Army Officer and Chief of Staff of the Army during WWII. What was amazing about Marshall was how he argued forcefully from his narrower perspective as the leader of the army, but did not resent it when President Roosevelt decided differently citing wider, non-military consideration. Roosevelt had the almost unique ability to make decisions from the big picture perspective and have most of his subordinates with narrower responsibility and perspective accept understandingly.
Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. As of 2021, Hammarskjöld remains the youngest person to have held the Secretary-General post, having been only 47 years old when he was appointed in 1953. His second term was cut short when he died in the crash of his DC-6 airplane in Northern Rhodesia while en route to cease-fire negotiations during the Congo Crisis. He is the only person in history to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize posthumously.
