Urho Kekkonen
Encyclopedia
Urho Kaleva Kekkonen was a Finnish politician
who served as Prime Minister of Finland
(1950–1953, 1954–1956) and later as the eighth President of Finland
(1956–1982). Kekkonen continued the “active neutrality” policy of his predecessor President Juho Kusti Paasikivi
, a doctrine which came to be known as the “Paasikivi–Kekkonen line”. Under it, Finland
retained its independence while being able to trade with both NATO members and those of the Warsaw Pact
. Kekkonen was the longest-serving President of Finland.
, in the Savo
region of Finland and spent his childhood in Kainuu
. His family were farmers (though not poor tenant farmer
s, as some of his supporters later claimed). His father was originally a farm-hand and forestry worker who rose to become a forestry manager and stock agent at Halla Ltd. Claims made that Kekkonen's family had lived in a rudimentary farmhouse with no chimney were later proved to be false—a photograph of Kekkonen's childhood home had been retouched to remove the chimney. His school years did not go smoothly. During the Finnish Civil War
, Kekkonen fought for the White Guard
(Kajaani
chapter), fighting in Kuopio
, Varkaus
, Mouhu and Viipuri, and taking part in mop-up operations, including leading a firing squad in Hamina
. He later admitted to having killed a man in battle, but wrote in his memoirs that he was randomly selected by his company commander to follow a squad escorting ten prisoners, where the squad turned out to be a firing squad, and then to give the actual order to aim and fire.
In independent Finland, Kekkonen first worked as a journalist in Kajaani
then moved to Helsinki in 1921 to study law. While studying he worked for the security police EK between 1921 and 1927, where he became acquainted with anti-Communist policing. During this time he also met his future wife, Sylvi Salome Uino (1900–1974), a typist at the police station. They had two sons, Matti (born 1928) and Taneli (1928–1985). Matti Kekkonen served as a Centre Party member of Parliament from 1958 to 1969.
In 1927, Kekkonen became a lawyer and worked for the Association of Rural Municipalities but was forced to resign in 1932 after making abrasive comments. Kekkonen took a Doctor of Laws degree in 1936 at the University of Helsinki where he was active in the Northern Ostrobothnia
n student nation and editor-in-chief of the student newspaper Ylioppilaslehti
in the period 1927–1928. He was also an athlete whose greatest achievement was to become Finnish high jump champion in 1924 with a jump of 1.85 metres (6.1 ft). He was best at the standing jump.
(Akateeminen Karjala-Seura), an organization favouring Finland's annexation of East Karelia
, but resigned from it in 1932 along with over 100 other moderate members because of the organization's support for the 1932 far-right Mäntsälä rebellion
. According to Johannes Virolainen
, a longtime Agrarian and Centrist politician, some Finnish right-wingers hated and mocked Kekkonen for the decision and cast him as a power-hungry opportunist. Kekkonen chaired Suomalaisuuden Liitto, another nationalist organisation, from 1930 to 1932. In 1933, Kekkonen joined the Agrarian League (later renamed the Centre Party) and in the same year also became a civil servant at the Ministry of Agriculture. During his time there Kekkonen made his first unsuccessful attempt at getting elected to the Finnish Parliament
.
Kekkonen successfully stood for parliament a second time in 1936 whereupon he became Justice Minister
, serving from 1936 to 1937. During his term, he enacted the "Tricks of Kekkonen" (Kekkosen konstit), an attempt to ban the right-wing radical Patriotic People's Movement
(Isänmaallinen Kansanliike, IKL). In the end this effort was found illegal and halted by the Supreme Court
. Kekkonen was also Minister of the Interior from 1937 to 1939.
He was not a member of the cabinets during the Winter War
or the Continuation War
and was the sole Member of Parliament to vote against the Moscow peace treaty in March 1940. During the Continuation War
, Kekkonen served as director of the Karelian Evacuees'
Welfare Centre from 1940 to 1943 and as the Ministry of Finance's commissioner for coordination from 1943 to 1945, tasked with rationalising public administration. By that time, he had become one of the leading politicians within the so-called Peace opposition
. In 1944, he again became Minister of Justice, serving until 1946, and had to deal with the war-responsibility trials. Kekkonen was a Deputy Speaker of the Parliament 1946–1947, and was Speaker
from 1948 to 1950.
In the 1950 Presidential election, Kekkonen was the candidate of the Agrarian Party. He conducted a vigorous campaign against incumbent President Juho Kusti Paasikivi to finish third in the first and only ballot, receiving 62 votes in the electoral college
, while Paasikivi was re-elected with 171. After the election, Paasikivi appointed Kekkonen Prime Minister where in all his five cabinets
, he emphasized the need to maintain friendly relations with the Soviet Union. Known for his authoritarian personality, he was ousted in 1953 but returned as Prime Minister from 1954 to 1956. Kekkonen also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs
for periods in 1952–1953 and 1954 concurrent with his prime ministership.
and the President tilted heavily towards the President. In principle and formally, parliamentarism was followed with governments nominated by a parliamentary majority. However, Kekkonen-era cabinets were often in bitter internal disagreement and alliances formed broke down easily. New cabinets often tried to reverse their predecessors' policies. Kekkonen used his power extensively to nominate ministers and railroaded new government compositions through the parliamentary process. Publicly and with impunity, he also used the old boy network
to bypass the government and communicate directly with high officials. Only when Kekkonen's term ended did governments remain stable throughout the entire period between elections. Nevertheless, during Kekkonen's presidency, a few parties were represented in most governments—mainly the Centrists, Social Democrats and Swedish People's Party—while the People's Democrats and Communists were often in government from 1966 onwards.
Throughout his time as president, Kekkonen did his best to keep political adversaries in check. The Centre Party's rival National Coalition Party was kept in opposition for 20 years despite good election performances. The Rural Party
(which had broken away from the Centre Party) was treated similarly. On a few occasions, parliament was dissolved if its political composition did not please Kekkonen. Despite his career in the Centre Party, his relation to the party was often difficult. Too prominent Centre Party members often found themselves sidelined, as Kekkonen negotiated directly with the lower lever. Chairman of the Centre Party, Johannes Virolainen, was threatened by Kekkonen with dissolution of parliament when Kekkonen wanted to nominate SDP's Sorsa instead of Virolainen as Prime Minister. The so called "Mill Letters" of Kekkonen were a continuous stream of directives to high officials, politicians, journalists and others. Nevertheless, Kekkonen did not use coercive measures while some prominent politicians, most notably Tuure Junnila (NCP) and Veikko Vennamo
(Finnish Rural Party|Rural Party), "branded" themselves as "anti-Kekkonen".
, Kekkonen defeated the Social Democrat Karl-August Fagerholm
151–149 in the electoral college vote. The campaign was notably vicious, with many personal attacks against several candidates, especially Kekkonen. The tabloid gossip newspaper Sensaatio-Uutiset ("Sensational News") accused Kekkonen of fistfighting, excessive drinking and extramarital affairs. The drinking and womanizing charges were partly true. At times, during evening parties with his friends, Kekkonen got drunk, and he had at least two longtime mistresses. 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 he alone was acceptable to the Soviet Union as Finnish President. Evidence from defectors like Oleg Gordievsky
and files from the Soviet archives show that keeping Kekkonen in power was indeed the main objective of the Soviet Union in its relations with Finland.
In August 1958, Karl-August Fagerholm's third cabinet
, a coalition government led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and including Kekkonen's party Agrarian League, was formed. The Communist front SKDL was left out. This irritated the Soviet Union because of the inclusion of ministers from SDP's anti-Communist wing, namely Väinö Leskinen
and Olavi Lindblom. Kekkonen had warned against this, but was ignored by SDP. The crisis, called "night frost" by Nikita Khrushchev
, led to Soviet pressure against Finland in economic matters. Kekkonen sided with the Soviet Union, working behind the scenes against the cabinet, and indeed, Fagerholm's cabinet resigned in December 1958. The Finnish Foreign Ministry ignored United States offers for help as promised by Ambassador Hubert Humphrey
in November 1958. The crisis was resolved by Kekkonen in January 1959, when he privately travelled to Moscow to negotiate with Khrushchev and Andrei Gromyko
. The crisis hurt the freedom of the parties to compose coalition governments, so that after the crisis, Kekkonen was seen as the only authority for deciding which parties can participate in cabinets.
The second time the Soviets helped Kekkonen came in the Note Crisis
in 1961. The most widely held view of the Note Crisis
is that the Soviet Union's motivation was to ensure Kekkonen's re-election. Kekkonen had planned to prevent the parties from forming an anti-Kekkonen alliance to promote Olavi Honka in the 1962 presidential elections by dissolving parliament. However, in October 1961, the Soviet Union sent a diplomatic note demanding common "military exercises" against the West in reference to the FCMA treaty, in effect a threat to occupy the country. As a result, Honka dropped his candidacy, leaving Kekkonen with a clear majority (199 / 300 electors) in the 1962 elections. In addition to support from his own party, Kekkonen received the backing of the Swedish People's Party and the Finnish People's Party
, a small classical liberal party. Furthermore, the Conservative National Coalition Party quietly supported Kekkonen, although they had no official presidential candidate after Honka's withdrawal. Following the Note Crisis, genuine opposition to Kekkonen disappeared, and he acquired an exceptionally strong—later even autocratic—status as the political leader of Finland.
Kekkonen's policies, especially towards the USSR, were criticised within his own party by Veikko Vennamo
, who broke off his Centre Party affiliation when Kekkonen was elected president in 1956. In 1959, Vennamo established the Finnish Rural Party
, the forerunner of the nationalistic True Finns
.
nuclear-free zone
proposal, a border agreement with Norway and a 1969 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The purpose of these initiatives was to avoid the enforcement of the military articles in the FCMA treaty which called for military co-operation with Russia, thereby strengthening Finland's attempts to implement a policy of neutrality. Following the invasion of Czechoslovakia
in 1968, pressure for neutrality increased. Kekkonen informed the Soviet Union in 1970 that if it was no longer prepared to recognize Finland's neutrality, he would not continue as president, nor would the FCMA treaty be extended.
, the Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders (a short-lived SDP faction), the Finnish People's Democratic League
(a communist front), and the Swedish People's Party. He received 201 votes in the electoral college, whereas the National Coalition
party's candidate finished second with 66 votes. Vennamo came third with 33 votes. Although Kekkonen was re-elected with two-thirds of the vote, he was so displeased with his opponents and their behaviour that he publicly refused to be stand for the presidency again. Vennamo's bold and constant criticisms of his presidency and policies especially infuriated Kekkonen, who labelled him a "cheat" and "demagogue".
Initially Kekkonen had intended to retire at the end of this term, and the Centre Party already began to prepare his succession by Ahti Karjalainen
. However, Kekkonen began to see Karjalainen as a rival instead, and eventually rejected the idea.
In 1973, the enaction of an emergency law saw his presidency extended by four years. By this time, Kekkonen had secured the backing of most political parties, but the major right-wing National Coalition Party, which Kekkonen had opposed, was still skeptical, and stood in the way of the required 5/6 majority. Concurrently, Finland was negotiating a free-trade agreement with the EEC, and as the EEC agreement promoted economic integration with the West, it was supported by NCP. Kekkonen had implied that if he was not remain president, the Soviets would not accept Finland's free trade agreement with the EEC. The tactic secured National Coalition support and the subsequent passing of an emergency law. The elimination of any significant opposition and competition meant he became Finland's de facto political autocrat. His power reached its zenith in 1975 when he dissolved parliament and hosted the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) in Helsinki with the assistance of a caretaker government.
According to Finnish historians and political journalists, there were at least three reasons that Kekkonen clung on to the Presidency. Firstly, he did not believe that any of his successor candidates would manage Finland's Soviet foreign policy well enough. Secondly, until at least the summer of 1978, he considered there was room for improvement in Finnish-Soviet relations and that his experience was vital to the process. This is exemplified by the use of his diplomatic skills to reject the Soviet Defence Minister Dmitriy Ustinov
's offer of closer military co-operation. Thirdly, he maintained that by working for as long as possible he would remain healthy and live longer. Kekkonen's most severe critics, such as Veikko Vennamo
, claimed that he remained President so long mainly because he and his closest associates were power-hungry. In 1979 Urho Kekkonen was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize
.
According to biographer Juhani Suomi, Kekkonen gave no thought to resigning until his physical condition began to decline in July 1981. The 80-year-old President then began to seriously consider resigning, most likely in early 1982. Prime Minister Mauno Koivisto
finally defeated Kekkonen in 1981. In April, Koivisto had done what no one else had dared to during Kekkonen's presidency by stating that under the constitution, the prime minister and cabinet were responsible to Parliament not to the President. He then refused to resign at Kekkonen's request. Historians and journalists debate the precise meaning of this dispute.
According to Seppo Zetterberg, Allan Tiitta and Pekka Hyvärinen, Kekkonen wanted to force Koivisto to resign to decrease his chances of succeeding him as President. In contrast, Juhani Suomi, believed the dispute was about the scheming between prospective presidential candidates, such as Koivisto. Kekkonen at times criticized Koivisto for making political decisions too slowly and for his vacillation, especially for speaking too unclearly and philosophically. This is generally seen as the death-knell of the Kekkonen era.
Kekkonen became ill in August during a fishing trip to Iceland
. He went on medical leave on 10 September, before finally resigning due to ill health on 26 October 1981, aged 81. There is no report available about his illness, as the papers have been moved to an unknown location, but it is commonly believed that he suffered from vascular dementia, probably due to atherosclerosis
.
Kekkonen died at Tamminiemi
in 1986, three days short of his 86th birthday, and was buried with full honors. His heirs restricted access to his diaries and later an "authorized" biography by Juhani Suomi was commissioned, the author subsequently defending the interpretation of the history therein and denigrating most other interpretations.
Some of Kekkonen's actions remain controversial in modern Finland. He often used what was termed the "Moscow card" when his authority was threatened, but he was not the only Finnish politician with close relations to Soviet representatives. Kekkonen's authoritarian behavior during his presidential term was one of the main reasons for the reforms of the Finnish Constitution in 1984–2003. Under these, the powers of Parliament and the Prime Minister were increased at the expense of Presidential power. Several of the changes were initiated by Kekkonen's successors.
Kekkonen was largely responsible for Finlandization
, a policy that allowed the Soviet Union to exert power over the country. The policy spanned his whole presidency with human rights violations associated with Finlandization carried out on the orders of Kekkonen. For example, he insisted that all Soviet defectors who managed to escape across the border to Finland were to be forcibly repatriated.
Although controversial, his policy of neutrality allowed trade with both the Communist and Western blocs. The bilateral trade policy with the Soviet Union was lucrative for many Finnish businesses. His term saw a period of extremely high sustained economic growth and increasing integration with the West (such as EFTA
). He remained highly popular during his term, even though such a profile approached that of a personality cult towards the end of his term. He is still popular among many of his contemporaries, particularly in his own Centre Party. Much controversy surrounds the interpretation of his policy.
Politics of Finland
Politics of Finland takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic and of a multi-party system. The President of Finland is the head of state, leads the foreign policy, and is the Commander-in-chief of the Defense Forces. The Prime Minister of Finland is the head...
who served as Prime Minister of Finland
Prime Minister of Finland
The Prime Minister is the Head of Government of Finland. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President, who is the Head of State. The current Prime Minister is Jyrki Katainen of the National Coalition Party.-Overview:...
(1950–1953, 1954–1956) and later as the eighth President of Finland
President of Finland
The President of the Republic of Finland is the nation's head of state. Under the Finnish constitution, executive power is vested in the President and the government, with the President possessing extensive powers. The President is elected directly by the people of Finland for a term of six years....
(1956–1982). Kekkonen continued the “active neutrality” policy of his predecessor President Juho Kusti Paasikivi
Juho Kusti Paasikivi
Juho Kusti Paasikivi was the seventh President of Finland . Representing the Finnish Party and the National Coalition Party, he also served as Prime Minister of Finland , and was generally an influential figure in Finnish economics and politics for over fifty years...
, a doctrine which came to be known as the “Paasikivi–Kekkonen line”. Under it, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
retained its independence while being able to trade with both NATO members and those of the Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
. Kekkonen was the longest-serving President of Finland.
Early life
The son of Juho Kekkonen and Emilia Pylvänäinen, Kekkonen was born in PielavesiPielavesi
Pielavesi is a municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Northern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water...
, in the Savo
Northern Savonia
Northern Savonia is a region in eastern Finland. Kuopio is the largest city in the region.- Historical provinces :For history, geography and culture see: Savonia- Municipalities :Northern Savonia includes 21 municipalities.Seven of them are cities....
region of Finland and spent his childhood in Kainuu
Kainuu
Kainuu is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Northern Ostrobothnia, North Karelia and Northern Savonia. In the east it also borders Russia. Kainuu is known in the ancient Norse sagas as Kvenland....
. His family were farmers (though not poor tenant farmer
Tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is one who resides on and farms land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management; while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying...
s, as some of his supporters later claimed). His father was originally a farm-hand and forestry worker who rose to become a forestry manager and stock agent at Halla Ltd. Claims made that Kekkonen's family had lived in a rudimentary farmhouse with no chimney were later proved to be false—a photograph of Kekkonen's childhood home had been retouched to remove the chimney. His school years did not go smoothly. During the Finnish Civil War
Finnish Civil War
The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national, political and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The Civil War concerned control and leadership of The Grand Duchy of Finland as it achieved independence from Russia after the October Revolution in Petrograd...
, Kekkonen fought for the White Guard
White Guard (Finland)
The White Guard was a voluntary militia that emerged victorious over the socialist Red Guard as part of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918...
(Kajaani
Kajaani
Kajaani is a town and municipality in Finland.It is the capital of the Kainuu region. It is located southeast of Oulujärvi , which drains to the Gulf of Bothnia along the Oulujoki . There are inhabitants and city surface area is of which is water. The population density is . The town is...
chapter), fighting in Kuopio
Kuopio
Kuopio is a city and a municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia, Finland. A population of makes it the ninth biggest city in the country. The city has a total area of , of which is water and half forest...
, Varkaus
Varkaus
Varkaus is a Middle-Savonian industrial town and municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Northern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is .The municipality is...
, Mouhu and Viipuri, and taking part in mop-up operations, including leading a firing squad in Hamina
Hamina
Hamina is a town and a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Kymenlaakso region. The town has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water. The population density is...
. He later admitted to having killed a man in battle, but wrote in his memoirs that he was randomly selected by his company commander to follow a squad escorting ten prisoners, where the squad turned out to be a firing squad, and then to give the actual order to aim and fire.
In independent Finland, Kekkonen first worked as a journalist in Kajaani
Kajaani
Kajaani is a town and municipality in Finland.It is the capital of the Kainuu region. It is located southeast of Oulujärvi , which drains to the Gulf of Bothnia along the Oulujoki . There are inhabitants and city surface area is of which is water. The population density is . The town is...
then moved to Helsinki in 1921 to study law. While studying he worked for the security police EK between 1921 and 1927, where he became acquainted with anti-Communist policing. During this time he also met his future wife, Sylvi Salome Uino (1900–1974), a typist at the police station. They had two sons, Matti (born 1928) and Taneli (1928–1985). Matti Kekkonen served as a Centre Party member of Parliament from 1958 to 1969.
In 1927, Kekkonen became a lawyer and worked for the Association of Rural Municipalities but was forced to resign in 1932 after making abrasive comments. Kekkonen took a Doctor of Laws degree in 1936 at the University of Helsinki where he was active in the Northern Ostrobothnia
Northern Ostrobothnia
Northern Ostrobothnia is a region of Finland. It borders to the regions Lapland, Kainuu, Northern Savonia, Central Finland and Central Ostrobothnia.- Municipalities :Main article: Municipalities of Northern Ostrobothnia...
n student nation and editor-in-chief of the student newspaper Ylioppilaslehti
Ylioppilaslehti
Ylioppilaslehti is a Finnish student newspaper founded in 1913. The paper is published by a private company Ylioppilaslehden kustannus Oy that is owned by the Student Union of the University of Helsinki. The paper is the largest student paper in Finland with a circulation of 35,000 copies...
in the period 1927–1928. He was also an athlete whose greatest achievement was to become Finnish high jump champion in 1924 with a jump of 1.85 metres (6.1 ft). He was best at the standing jump.
Early political career
A nationalist at heart, Kekkonen's ideological roots lay in the student politics of newly independent Finland and in the radicalism of the right-wing. He joined the Academic Karelia SocietyAcademic Karelia Society
The Academic Karelia Society was a Finnish elitist nationalist and Finno-Ugric activist organization aiming at the growth and improvement of newly independent Finland, founded by academics and students of the University of Finland in 1922...
(Akateeminen Karjala-Seura), an organization favouring Finland's annexation of East Karelia
East Karelia
East Karelia , also rendered as Eastern Karelia or Russian Karelia, is a name for the part of Karelia that since the Treaty of Stolbova in 1617 has remained Christian Orthodox under Russian supremacy. It is separated from the western part of Karelia, called Finnish Karelia or historically Swedish...
, but resigned from it in 1932 along with over 100 other moderate members because of the organization's support for the 1932 far-right Mäntsälä rebellion
Mäntsälä rebellion
The Mäntsälä rebellion was a failed coup attempt by the Lapua Movement to overthrow the Finnish government.On February 27, 1932 some 400 armed members of the Suojeluskunta militia interrupted a meeting of Social Democrats in Mäntsälä with small arms fire...
. According to Johannes Virolainen
Johannes Virolainen
Johannes Virolainen was a Finnish politician.Virolainen was born near Viipuri. After the Continuation War Virolainen moved to Lohja, but he remained one of the leaders of the evacuated Karelians, and never gave up the hope that Soviet Union and later Russia would return Finnish Karelia to Finland...
, a longtime Agrarian and Centrist politician, some Finnish right-wingers hated and mocked Kekkonen for the decision and cast him as a power-hungry opportunist. Kekkonen chaired Suomalaisuuden Liitto, another nationalist organisation, from 1930 to 1932. In 1933, Kekkonen joined the Agrarian League (later renamed the Centre Party) and in the same year also became a civil servant at the Ministry of Agriculture. During his time there Kekkonen made his first unsuccessful attempt at getting elected to the Finnish Parliament
Parliament of Finland
The Eduskunta , is the parliament of Finland. The unicameral parliament has 200 members and meets in the Parliament House in Helsinki. The latest election to the parliament took place on April 17, 2011.- Constitution :...
.
Kekkonen successfully stood for parliament a second time in 1936 whereupon he became Justice Minister
Minister of Justice (Finland)
-List of Ministers of Justice:...
, serving from 1936 to 1937. During his term, he enacted the "Tricks of Kekkonen" (Kekkosen konstit), an attempt to ban the right-wing radical Patriotic People's Movement
Patriotic People's Movement (Finland)
Patriotic People's Movement, abbreviated to IKL), was a Finnish nationalist and anti-communist political party. IKL was the successor of the previously banned Lapuan liike...
(Isänmaallinen Kansanliike, IKL). In the end this effort was found illegal and halted by the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Finland
The Supreme Court of Finland , located in Helsinki, consists of a President and at minimum 15, currently 18 other Justices, usually working in five-judge panels...
. Kekkonen was also Minister of the Interior from 1937 to 1939.
He was not a member of the cabinets during the Winter War
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
or the Continuation War
Continuation War
The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War...
and was the sole Member of Parliament to vote against the Moscow peace treaty in March 1940. During the Continuation War
Continuation War
The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War...
, Kekkonen served as director of the Karelian Evacuees'
Evacuation of Finnish Karelia
As a result of the 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty that concluded the Winter War, Finland ceded the area of Finnish Karelia and other territories to the Soviet Union...
Welfare Centre from 1940 to 1943 and as the Ministry of Finance's commissioner for coordination from 1943 to 1945, tasked with rationalising public administration. By that time, he had become one of the leading politicians within the so-called Peace opposition
Peace opposition
Peace opposition is a term used to describe a Finnish cross-party movement uniting both bourgeois politicians like Paasikivi, Kekkonen, Sakari Tuomioja etc. and social democrats, aiming at stepping out of the war and finding a way to conclude peace with the Soviet Union...
. In 1944, he again became Minister of Justice, serving until 1946, and had to deal with the war-responsibility trials. Kekkonen was a Deputy Speaker of the Parliament 1946–1947, and was Speaker
Speakers of the Parliament of Finland
The Speaker of the Parliament of Finland , along with two Deputy Speakers, is elected by Parliament during the first plenary session each year. Speakers are chosen for a year at a time...
from 1948 to 1950.
In the 1950 Presidential election, Kekkonen was the candidate of the Agrarian Party. He conducted a vigorous campaign against incumbent President Juho Kusti Paasikivi to finish third in the first and only ballot, receiving 62 votes in the electoral college
Electoral college
An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way...
, while Paasikivi was re-elected with 171. After the election, Paasikivi appointed Kekkonen Prime Minister where in all his five cabinets
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
, he emphasized the need to maintain friendly relations with the Soviet Union. Known for his authoritarian personality, he was ousted in 1953 but returned as Prime Minister from 1954 to 1956. Kekkonen also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs
Minister of Foreign Affairs (Finland)
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland handles Finland's foreign affairs...
for periods in 1952–1953 and 1954 concurrent with his prime ministership.
Overview
During Kekkonen's term, the balance of power between the Finnish Council of StateFinnish Council of State
The Cabinet of Finland is the body that directs the Government of Finland. However, in governmental translations to English, the distinction is often blurred between cabinet and government in the wider sense...
and the President tilted heavily towards the President. In principle and formally, parliamentarism was followed with governments nominated by a parliamentary majority. However, Kekkonen-era cabinets were often in bitter internal disagreement and alliances formed broke down easily. New cabinets often tried to reverse their predecessors' policies. Kekkonen used his power extensively to nominate ministers and railroaded new government compositions through the parliamentary process. Publicly and with impunity, he also used the old boy network
Old boy network (Finland)
In Finland, the Finnish term hyvä veli -verkosto is used to refer to the alleged informal network of men in high places whose members use their influence to pervert or circumvent official decision-making processes to the members' mutual benefit...
to bypass the government and communicate directly with high officials. Only when Kekkonen's term ended did governments remain stable throughout the entire period between elections. Nevertheless, during Kekkonen's presidency, a few parties were represented in most governments—mainly the Centrists, Social Democrats and Swedish People's Party—while the People's Democrats and Communists were often in government from 1966 onwards.
Throughout his time as president, Kekkonen did his best to keep political adversaries in check. The Centre Party's rival National Coalition Party was kept in opposition for 20 years despite good election performances. The Rural Party
Finnish Rural Party
The Finnish Rural Party was a Finnish populist party. Starting out as a breakaway faction of the Agrarian League in 1959, the party was identified with the person of Veikko Vennamo, a former Agrarian League Member of Parliament known for his opposition to the politics of President Urho Kekkonen...
(which had broken away from the Centre Party) was treated similarly. On a few occasions, parliament was dissolved if its political composition did not please Kekkonen. Despite his career in the Centre Party, his relation to the party was often difficult. Too prominent Centre Party members often found themselves sidelined, as Kekkonen negotiated directly with the lower lever. Chairman of the Centre Party, Johannes Virolainen, was threatened by Kekkonen with dissolution of parliament when Kekkonen wanted to nominate SDP's Sorsa instead of Virolainen as Prime Minister. The so called "Mill Letters" of Kekkonen were a continuous stream of directives to high officials, politicians, journalists and others. Nevertheless, Kekkonen did not use coercive measures while some prominent politicians, most notably Tuure Junnila (NCP) and Veikko Vennamo
Veikko Vennamo
Veikko Emil Aleksander Vennamo was a Finnish politician. In 1959, he founded the Finnish Rural Party , which was succeeded by the True Finns in 1995. He had originally been the leader of a faction of the Agrarian League...
(Finnish Rural Party|Rural Party), "branded" themselves as "anti-Kekkonen".
First term
In the presidential election of 1956Finnish presidential election, 1956
Two-stage presidential elections were held in Finland in 1956. On 16 and 17 January the public elected presidential electors to an electoral college. They in turn elected the President. The result was a victory for Urho Kekkonen, who won in the third round of voting. Voter turnout in the public...
, Kekkonen defeated the Social Democrat Karl-August Fagerholm
Karl-August Fagerholm
Karl-August Fagerholm was Speaker of Parliament and three times Prime Minister of Finland . Fagerholm became chairman of the Social Democrats after the armistice in the Continuation War...
151–149 in the electoral college vote. The campaign was notably vicious, with many personal attacks against several candidates, especially Kekkonen. The tabloid gossip newspaper Sensaatio-Uutiset ("Sensational News") accused Kekkonen of fistfighting, excessive drinking and extramarital affairs. The drinking and womanizing charges were partly true. At times, during evening parties with his friends, Kekkonen got drunk, and he had at least two longtime mistresses. As president, Kekkonen continued the neutrality policy of President Paasikivi
Juho Kusti Paasikivi
Juho Kusti Paasikivi was the seventh President of Finland . Representing the Finnish Party and the National Coalition Party, he also served as Prime Minister of Finland , and was generally an influential figure in Finnish economics and politics for over fifty years...
, which came to be known as the Paasikivi-Kekkonen line
Paasikivi-Kekkonen Line
The Paasikivi-Kekkonen line is president Urho Kekkonen’s realization and development of his predecessor Paasikivi’s doctrine, aimed at Finland’s survival as an independent sovereign democratic and capitalist country in the immediate proximity of the Soviet Union.The principal architect of the...
. From the beginning he ruled with the assumption that he alone was acceptable to the Soviet Union as Finnish President. Evidence from defectors like Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky , CMG , is a former Colonel of the KGB and KGB Resident-designate and bureau chief in London, who was a secret agent of the British Secret Intelligence Service from 1974 to 1985.-Early career:Oleg Gordievsky attended the Moscow State Institute of International...
and files from the Soviet archives show that keeping Kekkonen in power was indeed the main objective of the Soviet Union in its relations with Finland.
In August 1958, Karl-August Fagerholm's third cabinet
Karl-August Fagerholm's third cabinet
Karl-August Fagerholm's third cabinet was the 44th government of Republic of Finland. Cabinet's time period was from September 29, 1958 to January 13, 1959. It was Majority government.Fagerholm's third cabinet was formed after parliament elections in 1958...
, a coalition government led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and including Kekkonen's party Agrarian League, was formed. The Communist front SKDL was left out. This irritated the Soviet Union because of the inclusion of ministers from SDP's anti-Communist wing, namely Väinö Leskinen
Väinö Leskinen
Väinö Olavi Leskinen was a Finnish politician, minister and a member of the parliament from Social Democratic Party of Finland...
and Olavi Lindblom. Kekkonen had warned against this, but was ignored by SDP. The crisis, called "night frost" by Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
, led to Soviet pressure against Finland in economic matters. Kekkonen sided with the Soviet Union, working behind the scenes against the cabinet, and indeed, Fagerholm's cabinet resigned in December 1958. The Finnish Foreign Ministry ignored United States offers for help as promised by Ambassador Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
in November 1958. The crisis was resolved by Kekkonen in January 1959, when he privately travelled to Moscow to negotiate with Khrushchev and Andrei Gromyko
Andrei Gromyko
Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet . Gromyko was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy until he retired in 1987. In the West he was given the...
. The crisis hurt the freedom of the parties to compose coalition governments, so that after the crisis, Kekkonen was seen as the only authority for deciding which parties can participate in cabinets.
The second time the Soviets helped Kekkonen came in the Note Crisis
Note Crisis
The Note Crisis was a political crisis in Finland relations in 1961. The Soviet Union sent a diplomatic note on October 30, 1960, citing an article of the FCMA treaty referring to the threat of war....
in 1961. The most widely held view of the Note Crisis
Note Crisis
The Note Crisis was a political crisis in Finland relations in 1961. The Soviet Union sent a diplomatic note on October 30, 1960, citing an article of the FCMA treaty referring to the threat of war....
is that the Soviet Union's motivation was to ensure Kekkonen's re-election. Kekkonen had planned to prevent the parties from forming an anti-Kekkonen alliance to promote Olavi Honka in the 1962 presidential elections by dissolving parliament. However, in October 1961, the Soviet Union sent a diplomatic note demanding common "military exercises" against the West in reference to the FCMA treaty, in effect a threat to occupy the country. As a result, Honka dropped his candidacy, leaving Kekkonen with a clear majority (199 / 300 electors) in the 1962 elections. In addition to support from his own party, Kekkonen received the backing of the Swedish People's Party and the Finnish People's Party
Liberals (Finland)
Liberals is a free market liberal party in Finland. Founded in 1965 as a reunification of the People's Party of Finland and Liberal League. Originally named Liberal People's Party , it restyled its name as Liberals in 2000....
, a small classical liberal party. Furthermore, the Conservative National Coalition Party quietly supported Kekkonen, although they had no official presidential candidate after Honka's withdrawal. Following the Note Crisis, genuine opposition to Kekkonen disappeared, and he acquired an exceptionally strong—later even autocratic—status as the political leader of Finland.
Kekkonen's policies, especially towards the USSR, were criticised within his own party by Veikko Vennamo
Veikko Vennamo
Veikko Emil Aleksander Vennamo was a Finnish politician. In 1959, he founded the Finnish Rural Party , which was succeeded by the True Finns in 1995. He had originally been the leader of a faction of the Agrarian League...
, who broke off his Centre Party affiliation when Kekkonen was elected president in 1956. In 1959, Vennamo established the Finnish Rural Party
Finnish Rural Party
The Finnish Rural Party was a Finnish populist party. Starting out as a breakaway faction of the Agrarian League in 1959, the party was identified with the person of Veikko Vennamo, a former Agrarian League Member of Parliament known for his opposition to the politics of President Urho Kekkonen...
, the forerunner of the nationalistic True Finns
True Finns
True Finns or The Finns is a populist and nationalist political party in Finland, founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The head of the movement is Timo Soini. In the 2011 Finnish parliamentary election, The party won 19.1% of votes, becoming the third largest party...
.
Second term
In the 1960s Kekkonen was responsible for a number of foreign-policy initiatives, including the NordicNordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
nuclear-free zone
Nuclear-free zone
A nuclear-free zone is an area where nuclear weapons and nuclear power are banned. The specific ramifications of these depend on the locale in question....
proposal, a border agreement with Norway and a 1969 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The purpose of these initiatives was to avoid the enforcement of the military articles in the FCMA treaty which called for military co-operation with Russia, thereby strengthening Finland's attempts to implement a policy of neutrality. Following the invasion of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
in 1968, pressure for neutrality increased. Kekkonen informed the Soviet Union in 1970 that if it was no longer prepared to recognize Finland's neutrality, he would not continue as president, nor would the FCMA treaty be extended.
Third term
Kekkonen was re-elected for a third term in 1968. That year, he was supported by five political parties: the Centre Party, the Social DemocratsSocial Democratic Party of Finland
The Social Democratic Party of Finland is one of the three major political parties in Finland, along with the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. Jutta Urpilainen is the current SDP leader. The party has been in the Finnish government cabinet for long periods and has set many...
, the Social Democratic Union of Workers and Smallholders (a short-lived SDP faction), the Finnish People's Democratic League
Finnish People's Democratic League
Finnish People's Democratic League was a Finnish political organisation with the aim of uniting those left of the Finnish Social Democratic Party...
(a communist front), and the Swedish People's Party. He received 201 votes in the electoral college, whereas the National Coalition
National Coalition Party (Finland)
The National Coalition Party is a liberal conservative political party in Finland founded in 1918.The National Coalition Party is one of the four largest parties in Finland, along with the Social Democratic Party, the Centre Party and the True Finns...
party's candidate finished second with 66 votes. Vennamo came third with 33 votes. Although Kekkonen was re-elected with two-thirds of the vote, he was so displeased with his opponents and their behaviour that he publicly refused to be stand for the presidency again. Vennamo's bold and constant criticisms of his presidency and policies especially infuriated Kekkonen, who labelled him a "cheat" and "demagogue".
Initially Kekkonen had intended to retire at the end of this term, and the Centre Party already began to prepare his succession by Ahti Karjalainen
Ahti Karjalainen
Ahti Kalle Samuli Karjalainen was a Finnish politician. He was a member of the Agrarian League and was Prime Minister of Finland for two terms...
. However, Kekkonen began to see Karjalainen as a rival instead, and eventually rejected the idea.
Term extension
In 1973, the enaction of an emergency law saw his presidency extended by four years. By this time, Kekkonen had secured the backing of most political parties, but the major right-wing National Coalition Party, which Kekkonen had opposed, was still skeptical, and stood in the way of the required 5/6 majority. Concurrently, Finland was negotiating a free-trade agreement with the EEC, and as the EEC agreement promoted economic integration with the West, it was supported by NCP. Kekkonen had implied that if he was not remain president, the Soviets would not accept Finland's free trade agreement with the EEC. The tactic secured National Coalition support and the subsequent passing of an emergency law. The elimination of any significant opposition and competition meant he became Finland's de facto political autocrat. His power reached its zenith in 1975 when he dissolved parliament and hosted the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) in Helsinki with the assistance of a caretaker government.
Fourth term
After nine political parties blindly supported Kekkonen's candidacy in the 1978 Presidential election, including the Social Democratic, Centre and National Coalition parties, no serious rivals remained. He humiliated his opponents by not appearing in televised presidential debates and went on to win 259 out of the 300 electoral college votes, with his nearest rival, Raino Westerholm of the Christian Union, receiving only 25.According to Finnish historians and political journalists, there were at least three reasons that Kekkonen clung on to the Presidency. Firstly, he did not believe that any of his successor candidates would manage Finland's Soviet foreign policy well enough. Secondly, until at least the summer of 1978, he considered there was room for improvement in Finnish-Soviet relations and that his experience was vital to the process. This is exemplified by the use of his diplomatic skills to reject the Soviet Defence Minister Dmitriy Ustinov
Dmitriy Ustinov
Dmitriy Feodorovich Ustinov was Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union from 1976 until his death.-Early life:Dimitry Feodorovich Ustinov was born in a working-class family in Samara. During the civil war, when hunger became intolerable, his sick father went to Samarkand, leaving Dimitry as head...
's offer of closer military co-operation. Thirdly, he maintained that by working for as long as possible he would remain healthy and live longer. Kekkonen's most severe critics, such as Veikko Vennamo
Veikko Vennamo
Veikko Emil Aleksander Vennamo was a Finnish politician. In 1959, he founded the Finnish Rural Party , which was succeeded by the True Finns in 1995. He had originally been the leader of a faction of the Agrarian League...
, claimed that he remained President so long mainly because he and his closest associates were power-hungry. In 1979 Urho Kekkonen was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize
Lenin Peace Prize
The International Lenin Peace Prize was the Soviet Union's equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize, named in honor of Vladimir Lenin. It was awarded by a panel appointed by the Soviet government, to notable individuals whom the panel indicated had "strengthened peace among peoples"...
.
Later life
From December 1980 onwards, Kekkonen suffered from an undisclosed disease that appeared to affect his brain functions, sometimes leading to delusional thoughts. He had begun to suffer occasional brief memory lapses as early as the autumn of 1972, which became more frequent during the late 1970s. Around the same time, Kekkonen's eyesight deteriorated so much that for his last few years in office, all of his official papers had to be typed in block letters. Kekkonen had also suffered from a failing sense of balance since the mid-1970s and from enlargement of his prostate gland since 1974. He was also subject to occasional violent headaches and suffered from diabetes from the autumn of 1979.According to biographer Juhani Suomi, Kekkonen gave no thought to resigning until his physical condition began to decline in July 1981. The 80-year-old President then began to seriously consider resigning, most likely in early 1982. Prime Minister Mauno Koivisto
Mauno Koivisto
Mauno Henrik Koivisto is a Finnish politician who served as the ninth President of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served as Prime Minister 1968–1970 and 1979–1982...
finally defeated Kekkonen in 1981. In April, Koivisto had done what no one else had dared to during Kekkonen's presidency by stating that under the constitution, the prime minister and cabinet were responsible to Parliament not to the President. He then refused to resign at Kekkonen's request. Historians and journalists debate the precise meaning of this dispute.
According to Seppo Zetterberg, Allan Tiitta and Pekka Hyvärinen, Kekkonen wanted to force Koivisto to resign to decrease his chances of succeeding him as President. In contrast, Juhani Suomi, believed the dispute was about the scheming between prospective presidential candidates, such as Koivisto. Kekkonen at times criticized Koivisto for making political decisions too slowly and for his vacillation, especially for speaking too unclearly and philosophically. This is generally seen as the death-knell of the Kekkonen era.
Kekkonen became ill in August during a fishing trip to Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
. He went on medical leave on 10 September, before finally resigning due to ill health on 26 October 1981, aged 81. There is no report available about his illness, as the papers have been moved to an unknown location, but it is commonly believed that he suffered from vascular dementia, probably due to atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is a condition in which an artery wall thickens as a result of the accumulation of fatty materials such as cholesterol...
.
Kekkonen died at Tamminiemi
Tamminiemi
Tamminiemi , is a villa located in the Meilahti district of Helsinki. It was one of the official residences of the President of Finland from 1940 until 1981. From that date, until his death, it served as the residence of President Urho Kekkonen. It is now the Urho Kekkonen Museum. It is located in...
in 1986, three days short of his 86th birthday, and was buried with full honors. His heirs restricted access to his diaries and later an "authorized" biography by Juhani Suomi was commissioned, the author subsequently defending the interpretation of the history therein and denigrating most other interpretations.
Legacy
- Presidential terms were limited to two consecutive ones.
- The President's role in cabinet formation was restricted.
- The President was to be elected directly, not by an electoral collegeElectoral collegeAn electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way...
. - The President could no longer dissolve Parliament without the support of the Prime Minister.
- The Prime Minister's role in shaping the foreign relations of FinlandForeign relations of FinlandThe foreign relations of Finland are the responsibility of President of Finland, who leads foreign policy in cooperation with the government. Implicitly the government is responsible for internal policy and decision making in the European Union...
was enhanced.
Kekkonen was largely responsible for Finlandization
Finlandization
Finlandization is a term used to describe the influence that one powerful country may have on the policies of a smaller neighboring country.It is generally considered to be pejorative, originating in West German political debate of the late 1960s and 1970s...
, a policy that allowed the Soviet Union to exert power over the country. The policy spanned his whole presidency with human rights violations associated with Finlandization carried out on the orders of Kekkonen. For example, he insisted that all Soviet defectors who managed to escape across the border to Finland were to be forcibly repatriated.
Although controversial, his policy of neutrality allowed trade with both the Communist and Western blocs. The bilateral trade policy with the Soviet Union was lucrative for many Finnish businesses. His term saw a period of extremely high sustained economic growth and increasing integration with the West (such as EFTA
EFTA
EFTA may refer to:* European Family Therapy Association, an NGO.* European Fair Trade Association, an association of eleven Fair Trade importers in nine European countries....
). He remained highly popular during his term, even though such a profile approached that of a personality cult towards the end of his term. He is still popular among many of his contemporaries, particularly in his own Centre Party. Much controversy surrounds the interpretation of his policy.
Tributes
- The Urho Kekkonen National ParkUrho Kekkonen National ParkUrho Kekkonen National Park is a national park in Lapland, Finland. Established in 1983 and covering , it is one of Finland's largest protected areas. It is named after Urho Kekkonen, former President and Prime Minister of Finland....
, Finland's second largest national park, is named after Kekkonen.
- The Urho Kekkonen museum was opened in TamminiemiTamminiemiTamminiemi , is a villa located in the Meilahti district of Helsinki. It was one of the official residences of the President of Finland from 1940 until 1981. From that date, until his death, it served as the residence of President Urho Kekkonen. It is now the Urho Kekkonen Museum. It is located in...
in 1987.
- In HelsinkiHelsinkiHelsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, the former Kampinkatu (KamppiKamppiKamppi is a neighbourhood in the centre of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name originally referred to a small area known as the "Kamppi field" , but according to the current official designation, "Kamppi" encompasses a much larger area with a population of 10,000 in 2004.The heart of Kamppi...
Street) was renamed Urho Kekkosen katu (Urho Kekkonen Street) in 1980.
- Such was his impact on the Finnish political scene that Kekkonen's face appeared on the 500 Markka banknoteBanknoteA banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...
during his term as President. The series of Finnish Markka banknotes used at this time was the second-to-last design series in the entire history of the currency. Very few Finns have ever got their face on a Markka note during their lifetime, and Kekkonen the last to do so. This banknote was declared Finland's most beautiful note according to voting organised by the commemorative coins and medal marketer Suomen Moneta on 1 April 2011.
- To date, President Kekkonen is the only Finnish person to have a collector coin issued in his honour during his lifetime.
-
- 25 Years of presidency of U. K. Kekkonen. The silver collector coin that pays homage to Urho Kekkonen, the longest-serving Finnish president, was issued in 1981, when he had served 25 years as the president. The coin also commemorated President Kekkonen's 80th birthday the previous year. Designed by sculptor Nina Terno, the symbolic reverse side of the coin depicts a ploughman with a pair of horses pulling a harrow. In 2010, Mint of Finland is re-releasing coins minted in 1981 from its vaults.
- President U. K. Kekkonen 75th Birthday. The silver coin was issued on Kekkonen's birthday on 3 September 1975 to commemorate the president's 75th birthday. Designed by sculptor Heikki HäiväojaHeikki HäiväojaHeikki Häiväoja , is a Finnish sculptor and designer of the Finnish euro coins design for the minor and middle series of coins. All designs feature the 12 stars of the EU and the year of imprint on one side, and a national design on the other....
, the reverse side depicts four tall pine trees that symbolise the first four terms of President Kekkonen.
- Itella (formerly in Finnish) has issued four President Kekkonen commemorative postage stamps.
- Name: 60th birthday of President Urho Kekkonen, issued: 03.09.1960, designed by Olavi Vepsäläinen
- Name: 70th birthday of President Kekkonen, issued: 03.09.1970, designed by Eeva Oivo
- Name: 80th birthday of President Kekkonen, issued: 03.09.1980, designed by Eeva Oivo
- Name: President Kekkonen's mourning stamp, issued: 30.09.1986, designed by Eeva Oivo
In popular culture
- The vote count from the 1968 elections was broadcast on the radio, and has been shown numerous times in television documentaries. The monotonous reading out of the votes, in groups of five, is still well-recognized in Finnish popular culture, and broadly quoted and paraphrased; "Kekkonen, Kekkonen, Kekkonen, Kekkonen, Kekkonen."
- Matti HagelbergMatti HagelbergMatti Hagelberg is a Finnish comic book artist, illustrator, graphical designer and teacher. He attended the University of Art and Design in Helsinki and achieved a Master of Arts degree. Hagelberg is the only famous Finnish author to use scratch cardboard as his medium and has won a Puupää hat...
uses a caricature of Kekkonen as the main character in his comic album with the same name.