Urho Kekkonen

:Kekkonen redirects here. For the Finnish porn star, see Mariah Kekkonen.

President of Finland

In the presidential election of 1956, Kekkonen defeated the Social Democrat Karl-August Fagerholm by two votes in the electoral college (151-149) and was elected as President. As president, Kekkonen continued the neutrality policy of President Paasikivi, which came to be known as the Paasikivi-Kekkonen line. From the beginning he ruled with the assumption that the Soviet Union accepted only him; the country at the time was some times called Kekkoslovakia. Because of defectors like Oleg Gordievsky and the opening of the Soviet archives it is known that keeping Kekkonen in power was the main task of Soviet Union in its relations with Finland.

Related Topics:
1956 - Karl-August Fagerholm - President Paasikivi - Oleg Gordievsky

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In April 1961 Kekkonen was already planning to dissolve parliament in order to influence the alliance behind his potential presidential rival Olavi Honka. In addition, the Soviet Union sent a diplomatic note in late October, citing an article of the FCMA treaty referring to the threat of war. Concerning this 'note crisis', the most common view is that the Soviet Union was motivated by a desire to ensure Kekkonen's re-election. After Honka dropped his candidacy, Kekkonen was re-elected by an overwhelming vote of 199 out of 300 electoral college votes in the 1962 Presidential election. As a result of the note crisis, genuine opposition to Kekkonen disappeared, and he acquired an especially strong - later even autocratic - status as the political leader of Finland.

Related Topics:
1961 - Olavi Honka - 1962

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Throughout his time as president, Kekkonen did his best to keep political rivals in check. The Centre Party's rival, National Coalition Party was kept in opposition despite good performance in elections. On a few occasions, the parliament was dissolved as the political composition did not please Kekkonen. Too prominent Centre Party members often found themselves sidelined, as Kekkonen negotiated directly with the lower lever. The "Mill Letters" of Kekkonen were a continuous stream of directives to high officials, politicians, journalists etc.

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In the 1960s Kekkonen was responsible for a number of foreign-policy initiatives, involving for example the Nordic nuclear-free zone, the border agreement with Norway and a Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1969. The purpose of these initiatives was to avoid the enforcement of the military articles in the FCMA treaty - in other words, military co-operation between Finland and the Soviet Union - and thus to strengthen Finland's attempt to practice a policy of neutrality. Following the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 pressure for neutrality increased. Kekkonen informed the Soviets in 1970 that he would not continue as president, nor would the FCMA treaty be extended, if the Soviet Union was no longer prepared to recognise Finland's neutrality.

Related Topics:
1960s - 1969 - 1968 - 1970

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Kekkonen was re-elected normally in 1968. In 1973, he was re-elected by emergency law which saw his presidency extended by four years. The elimination of any significant opposition and competition meant de facto political autocracy for Kekkonen. The year 1975 can be regarded as marking the zenith of his power, when he dissolved parliament and hosted the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in Helsinki with the assistance of a caretaker government. In the 1978 Presidential election, with Kekkonen's candidacy being supported by the Social Democratic, Centre and National Coalition parties, there were no serious rivals left. Kekkonen won 259 out of the 300 electoral college votes, with his nearest rival, Raino Westerholm of the Christian Union. receving 24.

Related Topics:
1968 - 1973 - 1975 - 1978

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