Urho Kaleva Kekkonen September 3, 1900-August 31, 1986

 

Urho Kaleva Kikkonen

Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (September 3, 1900-August 31, 1986), President of Finland (1956-1981). From 1950 to 1956, he served as prime minister five times. He is a representative of Finnishization in the so-called semi-control period of the Soviet Union.

First involvement in politics

Urho Kaleva Kikkonen is a Finnish statesman and diplomat. Born in Pielavesi, Finland, on September 3, 1900, his father Juho Kekkonen was a farmer. He studied law at the University of Helsinki in 1919 and graduated in 1926. From 1927 to 1931, he served as the lawyer of the Village Union. Obtained a bachelor's degree in law in 1928. From 1933 to 1936, he served as the administrative secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture. From 1934 to 1946, he served successively as a member of the Central Management Committee and a member of the Executive Committee of the Peasant Party. Received a doctorate in civil law in 1936.

Olympic athletes

In 1936, as a representative of the Peasant Party (later changed to the Central Party), Kikkonen was elected as a member of Congress and served as Minister of Justice in the same year. In 1937, he served as Minister of the Interior. From 1940 to 1943, he served as Director of the Central Immigration and Resettlement Bureau. From 1943 to 1946, he served as a consultant to the Ministry of Finance and Director of the Bureau of Rationalization Proposals. From November 1944 to 1946, he was re-elected as Minister of Justice. He served as the first deputy speaker of the parliament from 1946 to 1947 and the speaker from 1948 to 1950. He loves sports. He was an outstanding athlete in the early 1920s. He won 3 national championships in 1924, among which he achieved a high jump of 1.85 meters. From 1931 to 1947, he was the chairman of the Finnish Sports Federation. 1938--1946 years as the Finnish Olympic Committee chairman. Amateurs like fishing and hunting.

Heads of small countries

Due to the shadow of the " Sufen War " at the end of 1939, after the outbreak of World War II, Finland stood with Germany in order to regain territory. In 1943, Kikkonen predicted that the Nazis would fail and believed that Finland must adopt a neutral and friendly policy towards the Soviet Union in order to maintain its independence. Therefore, the government signed a peace treaty with the Soviet Union in February 1944 and signed the "Finland-Soviet Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance Agreement" in April 1948. After taking office as prime minister for the first time in 1950, he worked with President Yuho Kusti Basikivi to formulate a diplomatic route called the "Basikivi-Kikkonen Route" to maintain Finland's independence. He has repeatedly emphasized that Finland's "neutrality policy as a whole is precisely based on the "Finnish-Soviet Agreement on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance." From March 1950 to February 1956, he organized five cabinets and served concurrently as Minister of the Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs. After Pasikivi's death in 1956, Kikkonen succeeded as president on February 15. During his tenure, he advocated the establishment of the Central Left League and government including the Communist Party of Finland, and pursued a positive, peaceful and neutral policy of good-neighborly friendship with the Soviet Union, not involved in conflicts of interests of major powers, and developing friendly relations with all countries. And looking at the Nordic economies, the country will gradually become wealthy. As a result, he was able to win the presidency three times in 1962, 1968 and 1978. In 1980, he won the Lenin Peace Prize and Dimitrov Peace Prize. He has won the Finnish Chain Grand Cross and the Sports Gold Cross Medal. He also received honorary doctorates from Moscow University and Delhi University. Have visited China many times. In September 1981, Kikkonen resigned from all positions due to illness. Died in Helsinki on August 31, 1986. He is considered to be the most important politician in modern Finnish history. After Finland became independent, no one had a deeper influence on Finnish politics than him. He served as president for 25 years, and his greatest contribution was to make Finland a "bridge between the East and the West." The European Security and Cooperation Conference held in Helsinki in 1975 is considered the pinnacle of his diplomatic achievements.