Olof Palme is a swedish politician, a leader of social+democratic party and Swedish prime minister. Was shot on 28 February 1986. The crime remains unsolved.
Background
Ethnicity:
His father, a businessman, was of Dutch ancestry and his mother, Freiin von Knieriem, was of Baltic German origin.
Palme was born into an upper-class, conservative family in Östermalm, Stockholm, Sweden. Palme's father died when he was six years old.
Education
A sickly child, Olof Palme received his education from private tutors. Even as a child he gained knowledge of two foreign languages.
He wrote a critical essay on Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom. Palme wrote his senior honor thesis on the United Auto Workers union, led at the time by Walter Reuther. After graduation he traveled throughout the country and eventually ended up in Detroit.
He did his military service at K 3 and became a reserve officer with the rank of 1st Lieutenant. After his military service he enrolled at the University of Stockholm. After hitchhiking through the USA and Mexico, he returned to Sweden to study law at Stockholm University.
Career
As a student politician he concentrated on international affairs and traveled across Europe.
In 1951, he became a member of the social democratic student association in Stockholm, although it is asserted he did not attend their political meetings at the time.
In the early 1960s Palme became a member of the Agency for International Assistance (NIB) and was in charge of inquiries into assistance to the developing countries and educational aid.
In 1963 retained his duties as a close political adviser to Prime Minister Tage Erlander. When party leader Tage Erlander stepped down in 1969, Palme was elected as the new leader by the Social Democratic party congress and succeeded Erlander as Prime Minister
Palme was said to have had a profound impact on people's emotions; he was very popular among most left-wing sympathizers, although an outspoken anti-communist, but harshly detested by most liberals and conservatives.This was due in part to his international activities, especially those directed against the US foreign policy, and in part to his aggressive and outspoken debating style.
Carried out major reforms in Swedish constitution, reforms on labour market, improved public health system, put attention to child care centers, social security, protection of the elderly, accident safety, and housing problems, promoted equality and protected women's rights issues, supported nuclear power energy, criticism of European Communist regimes, criticism of the United States over the Vietnam War.
Politics
He is described as a "revolutionary reformist". He held socialist views.