Olof Palme

Olof Palme (30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician. He was the leader of the Social Democratic Party from 1969 until his assassination and Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986.

Olof Palme
Palme in 1984
Prime Minister of Sweden
In office 8 October 1982 – 28 February 1986
Monarch	Carl XVI Gustaf
Deputy	Ingvar Carlsson
Preceded by	Thorbjörn Fälldin
Succeeded by	Ingvar Carlsson
In office 14 October 1969 – 8 October 1976
Monarch	Gustaf VI Adolf Carl XVI Gustaf
Preceded by	Tage Erlander
Succeeded by	Thorbjörn Fälldin
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
In office 14 October 1969 – 28 February 1986
Preceded by	Tage Erlander
Succeeded by	Ingvar Carlsson
President of the Nordic Council
In office 1 January 1979 – 31 December 1979
Preceded by	Trygve Bratteli
Succeeded by	Matthías Árni Mathiesen
Positions held in the Erlander cabinets Minister of Education In office 1 January 1968 – 14 October 1969 Prime Minister Tage Erlander Preceded by Himself (as Minister of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs) Succeeded by Ingvar Carlsson Minister of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs In office 29 September 1967 – 31 December 1967 Prime Minister Tage Erlander Preceded by Ragnar Edenman Succeeded by Himself (as Minister of Education) Minister of Communications (Transport) In office 25 November 1965 – 29 September 1967 Prime Minister Tage Erlander Preceded by Gösta Skoglund Succeeded by Svante Lundkvist
Personal details
Born	Sven Olof Joachim Palme (1927-01-30)30 January 1927 Stockholm, Sweden
Died	28 February 1986(1986-02-28) (aged 59) Stockholm, Sweden
Cause of death	Assassination by gunshot
Resting place	Adolf Fredrik Church
Political party	Social Democratic
Spouse(s)	Jelena Rennerova ​ ​ (m. 1948; div. 1952)​ Lisbeth Beck-Friis ​ (m. 1956)​
Children	Joakim Mårten Mattias Järvinen Palme Mattias
Relatives	Rajani Palme Dutt (first-cousin, once removed)
Education	Kenyon College (BA) Stockholm University (LLM)
Signature
Website	Olof Palme International Center
Military service
Allegiance	Sweden
Branch/service	Swedish Army
Years of service	1945–1947 (active) 1947–1977 (reserve)
Rank	Captain
Unit	Svea Artillery Regiment

Death

Palme was shot and killed in Stockholm after going to the cinema on 28 February 1986. His wife was also shot but she survived. The murderer has never been identified, and the gun has never been found. His murder is still a mystery for Swedish police, even though people have been arrested in connection with it.

He was a pacifist and against apartheid, The Vietnam War, and nuclear weapons. He made efforts to improve welfare and economic, social and cultural rights for workers.

Other websites

• Olofpalme.org Official page of the Olof Palme Archives with various documents.
• Selected Speeches by Olof Palme Archived 2009-12-25 at the Wayback Machine - Speeches on Africa in English.
• Olof Palme's visit to Cuba - Speech by Fidel Castro on the Swedish-Cuban friendship, 1975.