Episode 45: The Man New York Forgot?

You can stand in Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza—just steps from the United Nations—and never learn who Dag Hammarskjöld was.

No context. No explanation. Just a name on the street.

In this episode of Decoding the Unicorn: The Podcast, I explore a strange and unsettling question:

How does someone so important become so invisible?

Dag Hammarskjöld wasn’t just a historical figure—he helped define modern diplomacy and led the United Nations through some of its most fragile moments. And yet, in the very city where his legacy should be alive and visible, his story is barely told.

This isn’t just about a missing plaque.

It’s about how history is remembered, and how it quietly fades.

In this episode, I share:

•  Why the absence of context in Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza matters 
•  What happens when we reduce a legacy to a name alone 
•  My own efforts to change that—and what I’ve discovered along the way 

Because sometimes, history isn’t overtly erased. It’s just not explained.

***

For insider information & spilled tea, please subscribe to my weekly newsletter, The Unicorn Dispatch, here: https://sara-causey.kit.com/2d8b7742dd

Sara's award-winning biography of Dag can be found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Decoding-Unicorn-New-Look-Hammarskj%C3%B6ld-ebook/dp/B0DSCS5PZT

Her forthcoming project, Simply Dag, will release globally on July 29th! ✨

 #DagHammarskjöld #UNHistory #ForgottenHistory #HiddenHistory #NYCHistory
 #PublicHistory #HistoricalLegacy #QuietLeadership #Diplomacy #ColdWarHistory
 #UntoldStories #HistoryMatters #StoryBehindTheName #CulturalMemory #NewYorkCity 

Transcript

 Transcription by Otter.ai.  Please forgive any typos!

Sara Causey discusses the lack of information about Dag Hammarskjold at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York City. Despite the plaza's name, most people are unaware of Hammarskjold's significance as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. Causey highlights the absence of signage or statues to educate visitors about his contributions to modern diplomacy. She shares her efforts to address this, including contacting the office of City Councilwoman Virginia Maloney and New York City Parks. Causey urges listeners to support her campaign for a simple plaque to inform the public about Hammarskjold's legacy.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Dag Hammarskjold, decoding the unicorn, podcast episode, New York City, Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, diplomacy, United Nations, public art exhibits, memory, history, plaque, Virginia Maloney, New York City Parks, community affairs, biography.

Welcome to the Decoding the Unicorn Podcast. Here's your host, Sara Causey.

Hello, hello and thanks for tuning in. Welcome to Episode 45 of decoding the unicorn the podcast. I appreciate you joining me today, and I'm happy you're here.

Let me ask you something. If you were in New York City and you were standing in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza right now, could you tell me who Dag Hammarskjold was? Maybe, if you're a frequent tuner inner maybe, if you enjoy the books that I've written, your answer could be yes, and if so awesome, I'm so very happy to hear it. But the thing is, most people can't. When we're talking about random foot traffic, if people who just happen to pass through there, or tourists who are there on vacation, they won't be able to tell you who Dag was. Now the really strange thing is, there's nothing there to really help you answer that question.

 You're standing in a plaza named after this man with, you know, to the American English mind, a fairly unpronounceable name. Who is he? And why is this plaza there? Why is it named after him? You can stand in this place named after one of the most important diplomats in modern history and walk away without learning a single thing about him. And listeners, I am on a mission to change that. Stay tuned. 

Just a reminder, Sara's award winning biography of Dag Hammarskjold, Decoding the Unicorn, is available on Amazon. Her next nonfiction project, Simply Dag, will release on July 29th. To learn more about her other works, please visit SaraCausey.com. Now, back to the show. 

I started thinking about this recently, and I want to give a shout out to my friend Paddy Cullivan. Not long ago, I recorded an episode with him on my nighttime broadcast the con-sara-cy theories vis a vis the life and death of Michael Collins. A few days later, he was in New York City for his tour, and he snapped some photos of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, and he sent them to me and said, Why is there no plaque? There's no statue, there's no signage, there's nothing here that tells you who Dag was. And I don't think that's right. And I was like, I concur, good sir, and someone should do something about it, and I'm willing for that someone to be me.

So it's not about thinking of this in the abstract, like, Hmm, okay, maybe somebody should do something. You have a plaza, a physical, tactile place close to the United Nations. If people walking through, sitting on benches, passing by, doing commerce, living their lives. Dag's name is on the plaza, but his story isn't. It would be like, what if you checked out a book from the library and all the pages in it were blank?

What's cool about this space is that it has trees, it has benches. There are people that will frequently gather there for demonstrations, like, if they're going to walk down to the UN and they're going to have a protest or lodge some kind of complaint a lot of times. DH Plaza becomes the gathering point for that. They also do public art exhibits. And as I'm thinking about all this, I'm like, okay, trees a serene setting in a busy and hectic city, being able to sit on a park bench and read a book, being in close proximity to the United Nations public art displays, I'm like, this is such a daggish space. He would love all of this. And so that makes it even more sad to me that there's nothing there to tell people who he actually was

Dag wasn't some bureaucrat or some paper pusher who didn't affect the world in any way. He was the second secretary general of the United Nations, and he helped to shape what modern diplomacy even looks like. He navigated crises that could have gone very differently, and he brought a sort of quiet moral clarity to situations that did not have easy answers, and yet, unless you already know who he is, you're not going to learn any of that simply by walking through that space.

A name without a story is just decoration, not that that's meant in any kind of way that wasn't well meaning. What I'm trying to say is Dad deserves something beyond just his name. Being in that space. People deserve to know who he was and why that space is named after him in the first place. Now some will likely say, well, couldn't you just walk down the street to the United Nations? Maybe. But how would somebody even know to do that if they don't know who Dag was, if they don't know that he was the second Secretary General of the UN why would they know automatically to walk down the street to the United Nations? And then what are they going to do, go to the information desk and be like, Hi, I'm going to treat you like Encyclopedia Britannica and ask you who Dag Hammarskjold was. Could you please tell me more the average person, and I'm throwing no shade here when I say this, the average person sitting at that desk is not a Dag Hammarskjold biographer. They're not going to give you well, Dag Hammarskjold was born on July 29 1905, in Jonkoping, Sweden. They're not going to sit there and do that. So the idea of, well, wouldn't somebody just walk down the street to the UN to the UN No, they how would they even know to do that? There's nothing there to tell them. Here's who Dag was and here's why he's important.

So here's where things get even more interesting. This is not really about one Plaza, it is. But at the same time it isn't. It's also about how memory works, what we choose to explain and what we don't history does not always disappear in a way that's dramatic. Sometimes it just simply isn't told. Some figures get statues, monuments, museums, documentaries and some big mythology built up around them, and others get a name on a sign, and some of them get silence. And I refuse to allow Dag to slip off into obscurity and to be completely forgotten. I flat out refuse.

When Paddy contacted me to say there's no sign, there's no statue, there's nothing I was like, how can that be? Why does this not already exist? Because it should. There should be something Something simple does not have to be elaborate or expensive, just something simple to tell people who dag was and why he matters, and then, in not finding that, I decided to ask why. I started reaching out, talking to people, trying to track down. Well, who does one speak to, especially in a city as large as New York City, who does one talk to?

I contacted the office of the relevant city councilwoman, Virginia Maloney. I started there first, and then secondarily, I reached out to a relevant contact with New York City Parks. As of this recording, I have heard back from the Office of Virginia Maloney, and it was a warm response. As of this recording, I have not heard anything back from New York City Parks, but here's what I received back from the Office of Virginia Maloney, Dear Sara, thank you for writing into our office. This is a lovely idea, and one our office would consider exploring further. We'll be looping in our community affairs team to follow up with you directly. That was on April 23rd.

Now we have to be patient, persistent, but patient at the same time, because, as I said, in a city as big as New York City, this is a time consuming situation for me, not not for them, but for me. This could be six months. This could be a year. This could be five years. I may be on the air in 2030 telling you a Dag finally got his plaque. But hey, I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. So the good news at this point is there's no single person saying no. Nobody has drawn a line in the sand with me and said, We refuse to do this. Get lost. There's not really a clear path to yes just yet, but I'd say there's a glimmer of hope.

What really makes my heart swell, what does me much good in this life, is that once someone knows who Dag Hammarskjold was, and I mean, really, they know not, they read some dusty article or some dry academic biography that put them to sleep after the first chapter, when they really encounter Dag for real. He stays with them. They don't walk away from that encounter unchanged.

Dag is not an historical figure. He really is an experience. And places matter. They shape how we remember. So when a place carries a name without a story, something gets lost, and it may not happen in a way that's loud or dramatic or even intentional or maliciously done, it just happens quietly.

So here's the question, why wasn't the plaque put there to begin with? And then what can we do about it? Now, when people are walking through that space without being told, what does that mean? Is that who we want to be as people? I don't think it is. I will keep you updated as I learn more. But for the time being, especially if you're local to that area, don't be afraid to say something about this, contact a journalist, contact somebody in the relevant departments of government, and just say this is something that I find meaningful and it's something that should be done. I'm only one voice. I'm plucky and I'm persistent, and I'm surely not going anywhere. But I'm only one person. The more people that we can get galvanized on this to say, Dag deserves a plaque. It doesn't have to be some giant monument. It doesn't have to be something that's going to cost a bazillion dollars a plaque installed somewhere. Simply to say, here's why this space exists, and here's who dag was. That's all we're asking for. That's not difficult and it's not costly. So please, if you feel compelled to join me in this effort, I would be so very grateful.

In the meantime, take very good care of yourself, and I will see you in the next episode. Thank you for tuning in. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to this podcast and share it with others. We'll see you next time.