Kyösti Kallio

Kyösti Kallio
4th President of Finland
In office March 1, 1937 – November 27, 1940
Prime Minister	Aimo Kaarlo Cajander Risto Ryti
Preceded by	Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
Succeeded by	Risto Ryti
Prime Minister of Finland
In office October 7, 1936 – February 15, 1937
Preceded by	Toivo Mikael Kivimäki
Succeeded by	Aimo Cajander
In office August 16, 1929 – July 4, 1930
Preceded by	Oskari Mantere
Succeeded by	Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
In office December 31, 1925 – December 13, 1926
Preceded by	Antti Tulenheimo
Succeeded by	Väinö Tanner
In office November 14, 1922 – January 18, 1924
Preceded by	Aimo Cajander
Succeeded by	Aimo Cajander
Personal details
Born	April 10, 1873(1873-04-10) Ylivieska, Finland
Died	December 19, 1940(1940-12-19) (aged 67) Helsinki, Finland
Nationality	Finnish
Political party	Agrarian League
Spouse(s)	Kaisa Nivala
Children	Vieno, Veikko, Kerttu, Kalervo, Kaino and Katri
Occupation	Farmer, bank clerk
Religion	Lutheran
Signature

Kyösti Kallio (Finnish pronunciation: [kyøsti kɑllio], April 10, 1873 – December 19, 1940) was the fourth President of Finland (1937–1940). He was a prominent leader of the Agrarian League, and served as Prime Minister four times and Speaker of the Parliament six times.

Biography

Early life

Kyösti (originally Gustaf) Kallio was born in Ylivieska, Finland. His father was a farmer and a prominent local politician.

Start of career

Kallio served in the Diet of Finland 1904–1906 as a member of the Estate of the Peasantry. He joined the newly founded Agrarian Union (a farmers' party) in 1906 and became one of its prominent leaders. He became an Agrarian minister in the Senates of Oskari Tokoi, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud and Juho Kusti Paasikivi.

Civil war

During the Civil War in Finland, he hid in Red-dominated Helsinki, because he was at least nominally on the White side and therefore a "class enemy"; he formed a new senate (government) in Helsinki after German troops had defeated the Reds in the city. Afterwards he became a moderate peace-maker and disapproved of retaliation against the Reds.

Formation of the republic

During the debates over the form of the new state in 1918, Kallio resigned from the Senate because he supported a republic instead of constitutional monarchy. Eventually, the monarchist stand lost and he returned to the Cabinet to become Prime Minister. He was a reformist who emphasized education, settlement and land reform. His greatest achievement was "Lex Kallio" in 1922, a legislation allowing the state to buy land to encourage new settlements, and to let the former tenant farmers and other landless rural people to buy small farms (see, for example, Seppo Zetterberg et al., ed., "Suomen historian pikkujättiläinen"). On the other hand, he did support Prohibition in Finland, and was dismayed when it was repealed in 1932.

Kallio was an anti-communist, suppressing the Finnish Communist Party (SKP) in 1923, but he resorted to legislative methods. When the violent right-wing Lapua Movement asked him to become their leader, he refused and was instead subjected to their death threats.

President

Kallio was elected president with the votes of centrist (Agrarian and Progressive) and social democratic coalition which wanted to ensure that President Svinhufvud would not be re-elected. Kallio took a role of a parliamentarian president and avoided use of his personal power.

Kallio together with Mannerheim at the Helsinki railway station on December 19, 1940. Kallio had a fatal heart attack a few seconds after this photograph was taken by Hugo Sundström.

In the eve of the Winter War, when Marshal Mannerheim once again threatened to resign from his post as chairman of Finland's Defence Council due to schism with the Cabinet, Kallio convinced him to stay. During the war he resisted the idea of giving up any territory to the Soviet Union, but was forced to agree to sign the Moscow Peace Treaty in 1940. His health begun to fail – his right arm was paralyzed – and he was not active in the dealings with Germany leading to the Continuation War. On August 27 he suffered a serious stroke. Prime Minister Risto Ryti took over his duties. Kallio's heart became weak while he knowingly took risks by agreeing to the formal farewell ceremonies. Kallio resigned formally on November 27, 1940. He was going to Nivala to his farm after the farewell ceremonies on the evening of December 19, 1940, when he collapsed and died at the Helsinki Central Railway Station, before a guard of honor and in the arms of his adjutant.

Personality

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 to Kaisa Kallio, 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 harsh Moscow Peace Treaty in March 1940, Kallio quoted freely from the Book 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 switch his writing hand. In the Presidential Palace, shortly before leaving for Helsinki Central Railway Station for the last time, he sang a hymn with his family.

External links

Media related to Kyösti Kallio at Wikimedia Commons

Political offices
Preceded by Lauri Kristian Relander	Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 1920	Succeeded by Wäinö Wuolijoki
Preceded by Wäinö Wuolijoki	Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 1922	Succeeded by Wäinö Wuolijoki
Preceded by Aimo Cajander	Prime Minister of Finland 1922–1924	Succeeded by Aimo Cajander
Preceded by Paavo Virkkunen	Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 1924-1925	Succeeded by Wäinö Wuolijoki
Preceded by Antti Tulenheimo	Prime Minister of Finland 1925–1926	Succeeded by Väinö Tanner
Preceded by Paavo Virkkunen	Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 1927	Succeeded by Paavo Virkkunen
Preceded by Paavo Virkkunen	Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 1929	Succeeded by Paavo Virkkunen
Preceded by Oskari Mantere	Prime Minister of Finland 1929–1930	Succeeded by Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
Preceded by Juho Sunila	Speaker of the Parliament of Finland 1930-1936	Succeeded by Väinö Hakkila
Preceded by Toivo Mikael Kivimäki	Prime Minister of Finland 1936–1937	Succeeded by Aimo Cajander
Preceded by Pehr Evind Svinhufvud	President of Finland 1937–1940	Succeeded by Risto Ryti