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Who said, "The United Nations was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell"?
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Answer: Option A — Dag Hammarskjold
Detailed Solution
The famous statement "The United Nations was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell" is attributed to Dag Hammarskjold, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations.
About Dag Hammarskjold:
- He was born in 1905 in Sweden.
- He was an economist and a diplomat.
- He served as UN Secretary-General from 1953 until his death in 1961.
- He strengthened the role of the Secretary-General and developed the idea of "preventive diplomacy".
- He organised the first large UN peacekeeping force, the UN Emergency Force (UNEF), during the Suez Crisis of 1956.
- He died in a plane crash on 18 September 1961 near Ndola, in present-day Zambia, while on a peace mission during the Congo crisis.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961 after his death. He is one of the very few people to be awarded a Nobel Prize after death.
His book of reflections, "Markings", was published after his death.
The UN's main library in New York is called the "Dag Hammarskjold Library".
The UN gives the "Dag Hammarskjold Medal" to peacekeepers who die in service.
UN Secretaries-General:
- Trygve Lie (Norway): 1946-1952.
- Dag Hammarskjold (Sweden): 1953-1961.
- U Thant (Myanmar/Burma): 1961-1971; first Asian Secretary-General.
- Kurt Waldheim (Austria): 1972-1981.
- Javier Perez de Cuellar (Peru): 1982-1991.
- Boutros Boutros-Ghali (Egypt): 1992-1996.
- Kofi Annan (Ghana): 1997-2006; shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the UN in 2001.
- Ban Ki-moon (South Korea): 2007-2016.
- Antonio Guterres (Portugal): since 2017.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Trygve Lie was the first UN Secretary-General.
- ✗Kofi Annan was the seventh Secretary-General and a Nobel laureate.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, US President, coined the term "United Nations" (1942).
Quick tip
Remember: "UN was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell" = Dag Hammarskjold (2nd UN Secretary-General, Sweden, 1953-61; died in a plane crash 1961; posthumous Nobel Peace); first = Trygve Lie; "United Nations" term = Roosevelt.
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Famous Personalities & Founders — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Famous Personalities & Founders, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers famous personalities from India and the world: leaders, reformers, scientists, entrepreneurs and their nicknames, along with the founders of organisations, companies, institutions, religions and movements. Questions often use popular titles such as 'Iron Man of India' (Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel) or 'Nightingale of India' (Sarojini Naidu), or ask who founded an organisation, such as the Ramakrishna Mission (Swami Vivekananda). Grouping people by field and by title makes revision faster and helps you spot wrong options. Practise the famous personalities questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.