Steingrímur Hermannsson

Steingrímur Hermannsson
Prime Minister of Iceland
In office May 28 1983 – July 8 1987
President	Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Preceded by	Gunnar Thoroddsen
Succeeded by	Þorsteinn Pálsson
In office September 28 1988 – April 30 1991
President	Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Preceded by	Þorsteinn Pálsson
Succeeded by	Davíð Oddsson
Personal details
Born	(1928-07-22) July 22, 1928, Reykjavík, Iceland
Political party	Progressive Party

Steingrímur Hermannsson (IPA: [ˈsteinkrimur ˈhɛrmanˌsɔn]) (born June 22, 1928) was Prime Minister of Iceland.

Steingrímur's father was Hermann Jónasson, another former Prime Minister.

Being the son a prominent official, Steingrímur enjoyed a relatively care-free upbringing in a country stricken by the Great Depression. As a young boy he had an execeptional proximity to Iceland's World War II politics, overhearing state affairs being discussed in his father's living room.

Not wanting to follow his father's footsteps into politics, Steingrímur went to the U.S. in 1948, studying engineering in Chicago, and later at Caltech. After returning to his native country and experiencing troubles both in his private life and business career, he eventually entered politics in the 1960s. He was elected to the Althing (Icelandic Parliament) for the Progressive Party in 1971. He became party chairman in 1979.

Steingrímur served as Prime Minister from 1983 to 1987 and again from 1988 to 1991. He also served for a time as Minister of Justice, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Fisheries, Minister of Transports and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was chairman of the Progressive Party from 1979 to 1994. After that he was manager of the Central Bank of Iceland until his retirement in 1998.

His legacy as Prime Minister is somewhat controversial, with many considering him the last representative of "the old system" in Icelandic politics, which was allegedly plagued by political favoritism and corruption. That system was gradually dismantled by the successive governments lead by Davíð Oddsson, who implemented huge economic and administrative reforms. Steingrímur's supporters however, state that he did a good job of coping in the difficult economic circumstances in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Internationally, his greatest moment as Prime Minister came in 1986, when he hosted the Reykjavik Summit of Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan. Although not considered a success at the time, the summit paved the way for the ending of the Cold War, and the Icelandic government's management of the event was widely commended.

Steingrímur first kept a low profile in his retirement, rarely voicing his opinion of current affairs. He was however a founding member of Heimssýn, an organization opposed to Iceland's entry of the European Union, and became increasingly critical of the Progressive Party's policies. As a result, he has mostly lost the informal status of the party's "Grand Old Man", that many had expected him to play. Lately (Spring 2007) he has given public support to "The Iceland Movement", an ad hoc environmental movement running in the 2007 Althing elections, appearing in campaign advertisements on TV.

In any case, today Steingrímur is a well liked and respected elder statesman, and was considered as a potential candidate for the 1996 presidential elections. But he quickly declined that honour, stating his intention to retire at the age of 70. His memoirs, published in three volumes in 1998-2000, became bestsellers.

Steingrímur's son, Guðmundur Steingrímsson is now beginning a career in Icelandic politics. He ran for the Althing in the 2007 elections; Not for his grandfather's and father's Progressive Party, but for the Social Democratic Samfylkingin.

External links

• Caltech: Steingrímur Hermannsson: biography Steingrímur Hermannsson: vita