Kyösti Kallio | |
|---|---|
 Kallio in 1937 | |
| 4thPresident of Finland | |
| In office 1 March 1937 – 19 December 1940 | |
| Prime Minister | Aimo Cajander Risto Ryti |
| Preceded by | Pehr Evind Svinhufvud |
| Succeeded by | Risto Ryti |
| Prime Minister of Finland[1] | |
| In office 7 October 1936 – 15 February 1937 | |
| President | Pehr Evind Svinhufvud |
| Preceded by | Toivo Mikael Kivimäki |
| Succeeded by | Aimo Cajander |
| In office 16 August 1929 – 4 July 1930 | |
| President | Lauri Kristian Relander |
| Preceded by | Oskari Mantere |
| Succeeded by | Pehr Evind Svinhufvud |
| In office 31 December 1925 – 13 December 1926 | |
| President | Lauri Kristian Relander |
| Preceded by | Antti Tulenheimo |
| Succeeded by | Väinö Tanner |
| In office 14 November 1922 – 18 January 1924 | |
| President | Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg |
| Preceded by | Aimo Cajander |
| Succeeded by | Aimo Cajander |
| Speaker of the Parliament of Finland | |
| In office 21 October 1930 – 8 October 1936 | |
| Preceded by | Juho Sunila |
| Succeeded by | Väinö Hakkila |
| In office 1 February 1929 – 16 August 1929 | |
| Preceded by | Paavo Virkkunen |
| Succeeded by | Paavo Virkkunen |
| In office 3 September 1927 – 31 January 1928 | |
| Preceded by | Paavo Virkkunen |
| Succeeded by | Paavo Virkkunen |
| In office 2 May 1924 – 31 March 1925 | |
| Preceded by | Paavo Virkkunen |
| Succeeded by | Wäinö Wuolijoki |
| In office 6 September 1922 – 14 November 1922 | |
| Preceded by | Wäinö Wuolijoki |
| Succeeded by | Wäinö Wuolijoki |
| In office 8 May 1920 – 29 March 1921 | |
| Preceded by | Lauri Kristian Relander |
| Succeeded by | Wäinö Wuolijoki |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Gustaf Kalliokangas (1873-04-10)10 April 1873 Ylivieska, Finland |
| Died | 19 December 1940(1940-12-19) (aged 67) Helsinki, Finland |
| Political party | Agrarian |
| Spouse | Kaisa Nivala |
| Children | 6 |
| Occupation | Farmer Bank clerk |
| Signature |  |
Kyösti Kallio (Finnish pronunciation:[ˈkyø̯stiˈkɑlːio], 10 April 1873 – 19 December 1940) was a Finnish politician who served as thepresident of Finland from 1937 to 1940. His presidency included leading the country through theWinter War;[2] while he relinquished the post of commander-in-chief toCarl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, he played a role as a spiritual leader. After the war, he became both the first president of Finland to resign and the only one to die in office, dying of aheart attack while returning home after submitting his resignation.
Kallio was the only president of Finland who did not have anacademic or similar degree.[2] He was a prominent leader of theAgrarian League party, and served asPrime Minister four times andSpeaker of the Parliament six times.[3][4] During his political career, he also served as a five-timeMinister of Agriculture for most of the period between 1917 and 1922, including in theIndependence Senate and theCivil War-eraWhite cabinet, led a1922 land reform to aidtenant farmers in acquiring their own land, and was a candidate in the1931 presidential election before defeating incumbent presidentPehr Evind Svinhufvud in the subsequentelections of 1937.
Kyösti Kallio, originallyGustaf Kalliokangas (forenameFinland Swedish pronunciation:[ˈɡʉstɑːf],surnameFinnish pronunciation:[ˈkɑlːioˌkɑŋːɑs]), was born inYlivieska,Grand Duchy of Finland, which was an autonomous region of theRussian Empire at the time. His father Mikko Kalliokangas was a farmer and prominent local politician. Young Kyösti's life also included his father's unmarried and childless cousin, Anttuuna Kangas, or aunt Anttuuna, who arranged for the boy to go toRaahe's junior high school in 1886.[5] After that, he was educated inOulu where he became acquainted withSanteri Alkio, author and future ideologue of theAgrarian League.[6]
Kallio entered politics during the firstRussification campaign of Finland as a member of theYoung Finnish Party. He served in theDiet of Finland from 1904 to 1906 as a member of the Estate of the Peasantry.[7] He joined the newly founded Agrarian League in 1906 and became one of its most prominent leaders.
After theFebruary Revolution of 1917 dethronedTsar Nicholas II, the Russian provisional government tasked Vice AdmiralAdrian Nepenin with overseeing the change of government in Finland. Nepenin started by inviting a handful of Finnish politicians to discuss the situation on March 17. Kallio represented the Agrarian League; and when the Finnish politicians the next day sent a delegation toSaint Petersburg to negotiate a cessation to the Russification campaign, Kallio was again a member. The delegation was successful, and Finland was permitted to assemble a fully parliamentary Senate. Kallio came to serve as Agrarian minister in the Senate ofOskari Tokoi, which took office March 26. Most of his time was spent trying to mediate the agrarian strikes and finding foodstuffs for the country, while theFirst World War raised the prices in Europe.
After the Tsar had been dethroned, the Finnish Parliament had to decide whether the highest authority in the country had passed on to the Russian Provisional Government, the Finnish Parliament, or the Finnish Senate. The question led to serious strife between the right-wing and left-wing elements of the Parliament. Kallio initially supported the socialists in demanding that power transfer to the Parliament, but disapproved of their cooperation with RussianBolsheviks andMensheviks; and Kallio ultimately voted against the bill they had drafted. Nonetheless, the socialist proposal passed, which the Russian Provisional Government saw as an affront to their power; andAlexander Kerensky consequently dissolved the Finnish Parliament on September 8. Kallio and the Socialist senators resigned from the senate, which continued to operate under the leadership ofE. N. Setälä.
After theOctober Revolution, the Finnish bourgeoisie were willing to compromise and give parliament the highest authority fearing Bolshevik rule would spread to Finland. Setälä's Senate resigned immediately after the question was settled. Kallio was again named Agrarian Minister in the Senate ofP. E. Svinhufvud whose first priority was to declare Finland independent. On December 4 the Senate introduced a declaration of independence to the Parliament; and the next day Kallio wrote a resolution, which the Parliament passed with votes 100–88.
During theCivil War in Finland, Kallio hid in red-dominated Helsinki, because he was at least nominally on thewhite side and therefore a "class enemy"; he formed a new senate (government) in Helsinki after German troops had defeated thereds in the city. Afterwards he became a moderate peace-maker and disapproved of retaliation against the reds. In his reconciliation speech inNivala, Kallio said the following:
We have to create a Finland where there are no reds or whites, but only Finns who love their country, citizens of the Republic of Finland, who all feel like members of society and enjoy themselves here.[8][9]
During the debates over the form of the new state in 1918, Kallio resigned from the senate because he supported arepublic instead ofconstitutional monarchy. Eventually, themonarchist stand lost, and he returned to the Cabinet to becomeprime minister. He was a reformist who emphasized education, settlement, and land reform. His greatest achievement was "Lex Kallio" in 1922, legislation allowing the state to buy land to encourage new settlements, and to let the former tenant farmers and other landless rural people buy small farms (see, for example, Seppo Zetterberg et al., ed., "Suomen historian pikkujättiläinen").
He supportedprohibition in Finland, and was dismayed when it was repealed in 1932.
Kallio was ananti-communist, suppressing theCommunist Party of Finland (SKP) in 1923. However, he resorted to legislative methods. When the violentright-wingLapua Movement asked him to become their leader, he refused and was then instead subjected to their death threats.
Kallio was elected president with the votes of a centrist (Agrarian and Progressive) and social democratic coalition, which wanted to ensure thatPresident Svinhufvud would not be re-elected. Kallio took the role of aparliamentarian president and avoided use of his personal power.
On the eve of theWinter War, whenMarshal Mannerheim once again threatened to resign from his post as chairman of Finland's Defence Council due to a schism with the cabinet, Kallio convinced him to stay. During the war Kallio resisted the idea of giving up any territory to theSoviet Union, but was forced to agree to sign theMoscow Peace Treaty in 1940. His health began to fail – and his right arm was paralyzed – He was not active in the dealings with Germany leading to theContinuation War. On 27 August Kallio suffered a serious stroke.[10] Prime MinisterRisto Ryti took over his duties. Kallio's heart became weak while he knowingly took risks by agreeing to the formal farewell ceremonies.[11][12]
Kallio left a notice of resignation on 27 November 1940. He was planning to leave the capital and retire to his farm atNivala after the farewell ceremonies on the evening of 19 December 1940; but he collapsed and died that night at theHelsinki Central Railway Station in the arms of his adjutant before a guard of honour while a band played the patriotic Finnish marchPorilaisten marssi.[6][13][14] One story tells that Kallio died in the arms ofMarshal Mannerheim,[15] but this is most likely part of the construction of Mannerheim's personal cult. In reality, Kallio died in the arms of his adjutantAladár Paasonen[16] and colonelA. F. Airo[citation needed].
A significant part of Kallio's personality and a motive for the social reforms which he supported and promoted was his deep Christian faith, which he had adopted already at home, and which was deepened during his marriage toKaisa Nivala, who was also a devout Christian. Although Kallio was often too busy to go to church, he prayed often when encountering difficulties in making political decisions, and some of these prayers he recorded in his diary. He also read Christian books with his wife and often discussed them by exchanging letters. He often referred to God in his speeches, and during the Winter War he asked the Finns who were serving their country to read the Bible. When he was forced to sign the harshMoscow Peace Treaty in March 1940, Kallio quoted freely from theBook of Zechariah, saying:
"May my hand, which is forced to sign such a paper, wither."
His right arm was paralysed the following summer, and he was forced to switch his writing hand. In thePresidential Palace, shortly before leaving for Helsinki Central Railway Station for the last time, Kallio sang a hymn with his family.[11][17][18]
Kyösti Kallio was deeply religious - he came from apietist family[5] - and was an absolute teetotaller. In 1932 he took the repellation ofprohibition in Finland that had been in force since 1919 as a personal defeat. When Kallio was visiting theparliament of Hungary in his role as speaker of the parliament of Finland, he caused a complete shock to his hosts by requestingmilk to drink at the official banquet. When Kallio became president, the largest change in the presidential palace in Finland was the complete stop of servingalcoholic beverages in all events. In addition, there was no dancing at anyIndendence Day Reception during Kallio's time as president.[19]: 116 When appointingKaarlo Hillilä as the governor of theLapland Province Kallio made him promise not to drink any alcohol.[20] Kaisa Kallio'sloom was taken into the presidential palace into the same room whereEllen Svinhufvud's loom had been taken away from shortly before.[19]: 121
When a condolence petition was being assembled in Nivala in 1904 in memory of the recently assassinated governor-generalNikolay Bobrikov, Kallio snatched the paper from the hand of the petitioner, tore it into pieces in front of him and threw it into the fire.[19]: 109
Kallio's religiousness and abstinence from alcohol gave him an image of a solemn and narrow-minded person. However, his close friends have described him as a social person who understood intelligent wordplay.[19]: 116 In appropriate company, Kallio indulged in good-natured humour. In his youth, Kallio's favourite sport was cross-country skiing, and he won numerous prizes in skiing competitions. In his older years, Kallio raised racehorses, and even in his years as a government minister he successfully took part in races. In addition to this, Kallio had time to attend theatre plays and concerts.[5]
Kallio was played by Ossi Ahlapuro in the 2001television filmValtapeliä elokuussa 1940, directed by Veli-Matti Saikkonen.[21]
| Kyösti Kallio | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Armiger | Kyösti Kallio |
Grand Cross of theOrder of the White Rose (Finland) Grand Cross of theOrder of the Cross of Liberty
Knight of theOrder of the Seraphim (Sweden)Order of the Polar Star (Sweden)
Order of the Falcon (Iceland)
Collar of theOrder of the White StarCross of Liberty Military Leadership (Estonia) Cross of Liberty Civilian Service (Estonia)Order of the Cross of the EagleOrder of the Estonian Red Cross
Order of the Three Stars (Latvia)
Order of Merit (Hungary)
Order of Polonia Restituta
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 1920 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 1922 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Finland 1922–1924 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 1924-1925 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Finland 1925–1926 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 1927 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 1929 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Finland 1929–1930 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 1930-1936 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Finland 1936–1937 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of Finland 1937–1940 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
