Ásgeir Ásgeirsson (; 13 May 1894 – 15 September 1972) was the second

president of Iceland The president of Iceland ( is, Forseti Íslands) is the head of state of Iceland. The incumbent is Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, who is now in his second term as president, elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir as ...

, from 1952 to 1968. He was a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

and served as Grand Master of the

Icelandic Order of Freemasons The Icelandic Order of Freemasons ( is, Frímúrarareglan á Íslandi) (abbr.: FaI), in English also known as the Grand Lodge of Iceland, is the governing body of regular Freemasonry in Iceland. The history of Freemasonry in Iceland began when a ...

Early life and education

Educated as a

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, Ásgeir graduated with honours from the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( is, Háskóli Íslands ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' s ...

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

in 1915, but was considered too young to be ordained as a minister. He married

Dóra Þórhallsdóttir Dóra Þórhallsdóttir (23 February 1893 – 10 September 1964) was since 1917 the wife of Icelandic President Ásgeir Ásgeirsson and First Lady of Iceland from 1952 to 1964. She was the daughter of Þórhallur Bjarnarson (1855-1916), 6th Bi ...

in 1917. Dóra was the daughter of

Þórhallur Bjarnarson Þórhallur Bjarnarson (2 December 1855 15 December 1916) was an Icelandic prelate and politician who served as a member of parliament between 1894 and 1899 and from 1902 to 1908. He was also the sixth Bishop of Iceland from 1908 until 1916. Bi ...

(1855–1916), 6th

Bishop of Iceland The following is a list of Lutheran bishops of Iceland. List See also * List of Skálholt bishops *List of Hólar bishops A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations ...

(1908–1916). Her brother was

Tryggvi Þórhallsson Tryggvi Þórhallsson (9 February 1889 – 31 July 1935) was prime minister of Iceland from 28 August 1927 to 3 June 1932. He served as speaker of the Althing in 1933. He was a member of the Progressive Party. He was the Minister of Finance of ...

, who was the 5th

Prime Minister of Iceland The prime minister of Iceland ( is, Forsætisráðherra Íslands) is Iceland's head of government. The prime minister is appointed formally by the president and exercises executive authority along with the cabinet subject to parliamentary suppor ...

(1927–1932).

Political and business career

Ásgeir was elected to the

Althing The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ("thing fields" or "assembly ...

in 1923 at the age of 29 for the

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

. He spoke as the

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the Althing at

Þingvellir Þingvellir (, anglicised as ThingvellirThe spelling ''Pingvellir'' is sometimes seen, although the letter "p" is unrelated to the letter "þ" (thorn), which is pronounced as "th".) was the site of the Alþing, the annual parliament of Iceland ...

on the occasion of the Althing's 1,000th anniversary celebrations in 1930, and became

Minister of Finance of Iceland The Icelandic Ministry of Finance (Icelandic: ') is responsible for overseeing the finances of the Icelandic government. The Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs is Bjarni Benediktsson. Organization of the Ministry of Finance The top civ ...

in 1931, and

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

in 1932. He left the Progressive Party in 1934, but stood for election as an independent for a while until he joined the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

, and remained in the Althing until he was elected president in 1952. From 1938 and until he was elected president, he was the director of Útvegsbanki Íslands, an Icelandic bank which later merged with three other banks and became

Íslandsbanki Íslandsbanki is an Icelandic bank with roots tracing back to 1875, formerly being the domestic part of Glitnir banki hf., but on 15 October 2008 being split from the bankrupt Glitnir and reestablished into a new independent bank. The sole opera ...

(which later became

Glitnir Forseti (Old Norse "the presiding one", "president" in modern Icelandic and Faroese) is the god of justice and reconciliation in Norse mythology. He is generally identified with Fosite, a god of the Frisians. Name Grimm took ''Forseti'', "''pr ...

President of Iceland

Ásgeir was elected the second

President of Iceland The president of Iceland ( is, Forseti Íslands) is the head of state of Iceland. The incumbent is Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, who is now in his second term as president, elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir as ...

in a closely contested election in 1952, which had been called upon early due to the death of

Sveinn Björnsson Sveinn Björnsson (; 27 February 1881 – 25 January 1952) was the first president of Iceland (1944–1952). Background, education and legal career Sveinn was born in Copenhagen, Denmark as the son of Björn Jónsson (editor and later minister) ...

, Iceland's first president. Ásgeir's main opponent, Bjarni Jónsson, minister in the

Reykjavík Cathedral Reykjavík Cathedral ( Icelandic: ''Dómkirkjan í Reykjavík'') is a cathedral church in Reykjavík, Iceland, the seat of the Bishop of Iceland and mother church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, as well as the parish church of the ...

, had the endorsement of the governing parties in Iceland, the

Independence Party Independence Party may refer to: Active parties Outside United States * Independence Party (Egypt) * Estonian Independence Party * Independence Party (Finland) * Independence Party (Iceland) * Independence Party (Mauritius) * Independence Part ...

and the Progressive Party. Still Ásgeir managed to receive 46.7% of the vote, compared to Bjarni's 44.1%. The third candidate, Gísli Sveinsson, a former MP for the Independence Party, got 6.0%. Ásgeir was the first Icelandic president to go to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

on an official visit. He also visited

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Ásgeir was re-elected unopposed in 1956, 1960, and 1964. Shortly after his fourth term started, his wife, Dóra, died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

. In 1968, Ásgeir decided not to seek re-election. It was widely expected that his son-in-law,

Gunnar Thoroddsen Gunnar Thoroddsen (pronounced ) (29 December 1910 – 25 September 1983) was the prime minister of Iceland from 1980 to 1983. Gunnar was the youngest man ever elected to the Althing, Iceland's Parliament. He was 23 years old when he was ele ...

would be elected as his successor. However, even though Gunnar started as the frontrunner (according to opinion polls), he lost the election to

Kristján Eldjárn Kristján Eldjárn (; 6 December 1916 – 14 September 1982) was the third president of Iceland, from 1968 to 1980. Biography Kristján was born in Tjörn, Svarfaðardal, Iceland. His parents were Þórarinn Kr. Eldjárn, a teacher in Tjörn, ...

Awards

In 1955, Ásgeir was awarded the Grand Cross Special Class of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

(''Sonderstufe des Großkreuzes des Verdienstordens der Bundesrepublik Deutschland'').

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Asgeirsson, Asgeir 1894 births 1972 deaths Asgeir Asgeirsson Finance ministers of Iceland Asgeir Asgeirsson Asgeir Asgeirsson Asgeir Asgeirsson Asgeir Asgeirsson Grand Crosses Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Asgeir Asgeirsson Burials in Iceland