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Ólafur Thors
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Ólafur Thors

prime minister of Iceland
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Quick Facts
Born:
Jan. 19, 1892, Borgarnes, Iceland
Died:
Dec. 31, 1964, Reykjavík

Ólafur Thors (born Jan. 19, 1892, Borgarnes, Iceland—died Dec. 31, 1964, Reykjavík) was a five-time Icelandic prime minister (1942, 1944–46, 1949–50, 1953–56, 1959–63).

Educated at the University of Copenhagen, Thors ran a fishing trawler company with his brother after returning to Iceland in 1916. In 1925 he was elected to the Althingi (parliament) as a member of the Independence Party after serving as chairman of the trawler owners’ association. In 1932 he entered the government as minister of justice, becoming communications minister in 1939, and in 1942 he became foreign minister and prime minister. He held both posts in 1944 when Iceland severed all ties with Denmark and drafted its republican constitution. Leaving office in 1946, Thors once more served as prime minister in 1949–50, as minister of industries and export trade from 1950 to 1953, and then again as prime minister during the 1950s and early ’60s.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.