Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until his assassination in 1986.
A longtime protégé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, he became Prime Minister of Sweden and Chairman of the Social Democratic Party in 1969. He left office after failing to form a government after the 1976 general election, which ended 40 years of unbroken rule by the Social Democratic Party. While he served as a Leader of the Opposition, he also served as special mediator of the United Nations in the Iran–Iraq War, and was President of the Nordic Council in 1979.