Our common traits as democratic and peaceloving peoples made this a natural idea as early as the Second World War. Trygve Lie. a distinguished Norwegian and citizen of the world. stressed in December 1940 that "the Atlantic does not divide us. on the contrary it unites us." and a year later he set his Atlantic Alliance within the framework of a "community of nations." The Norwegian Government in exile actively promoted the formation of the United Nations. and Trygve Lie became its first Secretary General. Her greatest contribution. of course. has come from the thousands upon thousands of immigrants who came to our shores in the past century to carve a life and create a civilization out of the American frontier. The Norwegian influence has been especially great in the upper Midwest area of the Dakotas. Minnesota. and Montana. In this land of temperate climate. rugged terrain. and sparkling lakes. the Norwegian immigrant found an environment almost identical to his native land. and it was only natural that he chose to settle here. The saga of that historic era in American history has been told lucidly by Ole Rolvaag. the father of the former Governor of Minnesota. In his book "Giants of the Earth." and also by Hamlin Garland in his "A Son of the Middle Border." Both books tell how the dauntless and indefatigable Norwegians challenged the raw frontier. met it in the crucible of the prairie wilderness. and tamed It to their will so that its land now feeds half the world and its iron. coal. and timber provide the energy for countless forms of Industry.
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immigrant immigrants