(22 August 1905 – 18 January 1978) was a Norwegian politician from the Conservative Party. He was the

prime minister of Norway The prime minister of Norway (, which directly translates to "minister of state") is the head of government and chief executive of Norway. The prime minister and Cabinet of Norway, Cabinet (consisting of all the most senior government departme ...

from 28 August to 25 September 1963 in a coalition government consisting of the Conservative,

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

Christian Democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

, and Liberal parties. It was the first government in 28 years that was not headed by the Labour Party.

Early life

Lyng was born in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

to merchant Markus Hartman Lyng (1872–1938) and Martha Maria Helberg (1885–1959), and graduated with the cand.jur. degree in 1927. He studied in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

in 1931. During his student years, Lyng was active in the leftist ''

Mot Dag (, 'Towards Day') was a Norway, Norwegian political group. The group was active from the 1920s to the early 1930s and was first affiliated with the Labour Party (Norway), Labour Party until 1925. After World War II, many of its former members were ...

'' student grouping, and his time in

Weimar Germany The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

in the early 1930s gave him a strong dislike of totalitarian movements as

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

was on the rise there. Before and after

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 ...

he worked as a lawyer and a judge. He joined the

Norwegian resistance movement The Norwegian resistance (Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Motstandsbevegelsen'') to the German occupation of Norway, occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms: *As ...

during the

occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

. He raised the mountain cabin Skardøla in Sylene, about 50 metres from the Norway-Sweden border, which was used as an outpost by resistance fighters such as Odd Sørli, Johnny Pevik, and Nils Uhlin Hansen. Lyng later fled the country, and worked in the Norwegian legation in Stockholm's law office from 1943 to 1944, and in the Norwegian government administration-in-exile in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

until 1945.

Political career

Lyng was originally a member of the Free-minded Liberal Party, heading the local party chapter from 1934 to 1935. He was a member of the executive committee of Trondheim city council from 1934 to 1940 and in 1945, but had changed to the Conservative Party in 1938, heading the party chapter in Trondheim until 1947. Lyng was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from the Market towns of Sør-Trøndelag and Nord-Trøndelag counties in 1945, and was re-elected in 1949. He was then out of parliament for one term, before being elected again in 1957 and in 1961, this time from

Akershus Akershus () is a county in Norway, with Oslo as its administrative centre, though Oslo is not located within Akershus. Akershus has been a region in Eastern Norway with Oslo as its main city since the Middle Ages, and is named after the Akers ...

, and was elected leader of the Conservative Party's parliamentary group. From 1955 to 1959 he was a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of Skien Municipality. His brief stint as Prime Minister came in August 1963 after the two representatives from the Socialist People's Party (SF) joined a slim 76-74 no confidence vote against the cabinet Gerhardsen following the Kings Bay Affair, a series of mining accidents at

Ny-Ålesund Ny-Ålesund ("New Ålesund") is a small town in Oscar II Land in the west of the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard. It is situated on the Brøgger peninsula (Brøggerhalvøya) and on the shore of the bay of Kongsfjorden. The company town is owned ...

. Lyng quickly realised that between them, the non-socialist parties were only one seat short of a majority in the Storting, and that if they banded together, they would be able to form a government as long as the SF abstained. He quickly pulled together a coalition which took office on 28 August. The socialist vote of no confidence was merely a

protest A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

and demonstration, and the Labour cabinet was restored a month later after the SF threw its support back to Labour. While Lyng was Prime Minister Ebba Haslund took his seat in parliament. Although the cabinet Lyng only lasted a month, it proved that the non-socialist parties were capable of forming a government. Following the 1965 elections the non-socialist parties won a majority with

Per Borten (3 April 1913 – 20 January 2005) was a Norway, Norwegian politician from the Centre Party (Norway), Centre Party and the prime minister of Norway from 1965 to 1971. Per Borten is credited for leading the modernization of what was then named Bo ...

as Prime Minister, and John Lyng as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

. He was replaced by Svenn Stray in 1970. Lyng held the post of County Governor of Oslo and Akershus from 1964 to 1965. He is also remembered for pursuing Norwegian membership in the

EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

Personal life

He married physician Gisela Gerda Margarete Lutz (1907–1941) in 1932. They were divorced in 1940. In 1944 he married lawyer Liv Godager (1918–1989). Lyng spent his later years writing his memoirs. He died in 1978, after being diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

the preceding year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyng, John 1905 births 1978 deaths Mot Dag Norwegian resistance members Free-minded Liberal Party politicians Conservative Party (Norway) politicians Prime ministers of Norway Ministers of foreign affairs of Norway Politicians from Trondheim County governors of Norway Norwegian judges Personnel of the legal purge in Norway 20th-century Norwegian lawyers Members of the Storting 1945–1949 Members of the Storting 1950–1953 Members of the Storting 1958–1961 Members of the Storting 1961–1965