Olof Palme: Interment

Abstract

If anticipated, the loss had come as a shock. Now out of office for the first time in nearly a half century, party regulars, forgetful of Palme’s warnings, could not understand why or how the defeat happened. Some wept. If many, nevertheless, thought they would soon be back in power, they felt just as confused as their less-optimistic counterparts. And because both sides were unprepared for the first change in government in close to half a century, the transition proved messy. On the Monday morning following the election, undersecretaries, press secretaries, and aides telephoned to ask about their future. Procedures for the changeover had to be learned. According to Peterson, Palme put on “a brave face and a facade of indifference” when he reminded his gloomy colleagues that “up until 1976 Sweden was the only democracy in Europe which had not changed its government during the 1970s. We made it through two elections in the seventies and came close, very close, in the third.” And he added, “It is a matter of no great import to me whether I am prime minister or not.”¹