Coming from humble origins, he became involved in the labour movement at an early age, and quickly rose in the party system.

Lie is widely considered – along with Einar Gerhardsen – to be the architect of the post-war success of the Labour Party, and of the Norwegian welfare state.

Born 22 September 1905 into a family of Finnish origin in Oslo (then named Kristiania), he was baptized Håkon Steen Lie.

In 1931 he was made leader of Arbeidernes Opplysningsforbund (AOF, Workers' Information Society), an institution recently created to promote education in the working class.

[9] When Norway was invaded by Germany in April 1940, Lie immediately started organising resistance, taking charge of free radio broadcasts from various locations in the country.

For two months this work kept him in constant movement around Norway, and on 7 June 1940, when King Haakon VII and the government left the country for London, he was in Vadsø, replacing a broken transmitter.

A strike over milk rations in September led to the arrest and execution of the two labour leaders Viggo Hansteen and Rolf Wickstrøm.

[8] From Sweden he made his way to the United Kingdom, where he worked as a propaganda secretary for the exiled Norwegian labour movement in London.

He made two visits to the United States to gather support and financial aid, the first time he went from New York City to Seattle where he held a series of lectures and radio-interviews before he travelled through Canada from the west- to the east coast.

While Gerhardsen became chairman and prime minister, and gradually assumed his role as "Father of the Nation" ("Landsfaderen"),[13] Lie maintained party discipline and staked out the political strategy in the background.

The policy proved highly successful; the country experienced unprecedented growth, as well as improved conditions for the working class, during his tenure.

Another concern was that the Pro-Moscow Norwegian Communist Party (NKP) had was gaining support among leftist voters, with opinion polls showing an increase to 15.4%.

It was during this period that Lie, with support from the trade union center set up significant and wide-ranging surveillance of Norwegian communists, (a practice later deemed illegal by a government committee, the Lund commission).

They were later to deny the Labour Party a majority in the 1961 elections as well as to bring down the third cabinet Gerhardsen as a result of the Kings Bay Affair.

[14][16][17] Gerhardsen had grown more and more frustrated at Lie's hard-line tactics against communists and perceived Soviet sympathisers, as well as his attempts to stifle foreign policy debate within the Central Committee.

[4][24] Lie initiated Operation donor funds for construction of Israeli settlement called "Moshav Norge" (Change to Yanuv) in memory of 28 children crashes in Hurum air disaster.

He also wrote a two-volume biography of his mentor Martin Tranmæl, Et bål av vilje and Veiviseren ("A Beacon of Resolve", 1988 and "The Pathfinder", 1991).