Ólafur Thors

Ólafur Tryggvason Thors (19 January 1892 – 31 December 1964) was an Icelandic politician of the Independence Party, who served six times as prime minister of Iceland.

Career The son of Margrét Þorbjörg Kristjánsdóttir and Danish Icelandic businessman Thor Philip Axel Jensen, Ólafur Thors was a member of parliament from 1926 until the day of his death in 1964. His first ministerial post was as a substitute justice minister from 14 November 1932 to 23 December 1932. In his political career he served as Minister of Industrial Affairs from 1939 to 1942, foreign minister in his own governments in 1942 and 1944–1947, social minister in his own government from 1949 to 1950, fisheries and industrial minister from 1950 to 1953, and fisheries minister in his own government from 1953 to 1956. He served as prime minister in 1942, again from 1944-1947, then again from 1949-1950, again from 1953-1956 and lastly from 1959 to 1963.

Although he did take a three-month hiatus from office in 1961 during a sick leave where Bjarni Benediktsson served as acting prime minister. Bjarni attended the UN General Assembly in 1947 and 1948. Ólafur Thors led the Independence Party from 1934 to 1961. His fifth government with the Social Democrats sat under two other prime ministers from the Independence Party until 1971.