Lars Johan Hierta

Lars Johan Hierta (born Jan. 23, 1801, Uppsala, Swed.—died Nov. 20, 1872, Stockholm) was a journalist and politician who became a leading agitator for Swedish political and social reform. Hierta’s work as a clerk for the noble estate of the Riksdag (estates assembly) in the 1820s acquainted him with the operation of the increasingly conservative Swedish regime and made him its critic. He established the Aftonbladet (“Evening Press”) in 1830, remaining its owner-editor until 1851....