Björn Þórðarson (; 6 February 1879 – 25 October 1963) was

prime minister of Iceland The prime minister of Iceland () is head of government of the Republic of Iceland. The prime minister is appointed formally by the president of Iceland, president and exercises executive authority along with the Cabinet of Iceland, cabinet subje ...

from 16 December 1942 to 21 October 1944, in the only government that did not rely on parliamentary support. He was prime minister when Iceland became a republic. His cabinet was named the Coca-Cola rule because two of its ministers started franchises of two big American companies during the US occupation during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Vilhjálmur Þór, from the Progressive Party, took on

Esso Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (from the phon ...

, and Björn Ólafsson, later a member of the

Alþingi The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (' thing fields' or 'assembly fields'), about east of what la ...

, founded Vífilfell, the company that sells

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

in Iceland.

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Biography
on

1879 births 1963 deaths Bjorn Thordarson Bjorn Thordarson World War II political leaders {{Iceland-politician-stub