| Kyösti Kallio | |
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| In office March 1, 1937 – November 27, 1940 |
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| Preceded by | Pehr Evind Svinhufvud |
| Succeeded by | Risto Ryti |
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| In office October 7, 1936 – February 15, 1937 |
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| Preceded by | Toivo Mikael Kivimäki |
| Succeeded by | Aimo Cajander |
| In office August 16, 1929 – July 4, 1930 |
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| Preceded by | Oskari Mantere |
| Succeeded by | Pehr Evind Svinhufvud |
| In office December 31, 1925 – December 13, 1926 |
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| Preceded by | Antti Tulenheimo |
| Succeeded by | Väinö Tanner |
| In office November 14, 1922 – January 18, 1924 |
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| Preceded by | Aimo Cajander |
| Succeeded by | Aimo Cajander |
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| Born | April 10, 1873 Ylivieska, Finland |
| Died | December 19, 1940 (aged 67) Helsinki, Finland |
| Nationality | Finnish |
| Political party | Agrarian League |
Kyösti Kallio [IPA: kyøsti kallio] (April 10, 1873 – December 19, 1940) was the fourth President of Finland (1937–1940). He was a prominent leader of the Agrarian League, and had previously been Prime Minister four times and Speaker of the Parliament six times [1][2].
Kyösti (originally Gustaf) Kallio was born in Ylivieska, Finland. His father was a farmer and a prominent local politician. 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. 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.
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., "A Small Giant of the Finnish History" / 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.
Kallio was elected president with the votes of centrist (Agrarian and Progressive) and social democratic coalition that 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.
In the eve of Winter War, when Mannerheim once again threatened to resign 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 (see, for example, Sakari Virkkunen, "The Finnish Presidents II: Kallio - Ryti - Mannerheim" / Suomen presidentit II: Kallio - Ryti - Mannerheim, Helsinki: Otava Publishing Ltd., 1994), and the Prime Minister Risto Ryti took over his duties.
Kallio resigned formally on November 27, 1940, prior to the Continuation War. 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 railway station, before the guard of honor and in the arms of his adjutant, colonel Aladar Paasonen and not, as is often claimed, in those of Marshal Mannerheim (see, for example, the biography of Aladar Paasonen, written by his daughter Aino in the late 1970s or 1980's). Kallio's heart had become so weak that he knowingly took a risk by agreeing to the formal farewell ceremonies. In the opinion of his doctor, Professor Soisalo, he would have died a few months later anyway (see Virkkunen, "The Finnish Presidents II"; see also Kari Hokkanen, "A Biography of Kyösti Kallio, II: 1930-1940" / Kyösti Kallion elämäkerta, II: 1930-1940, published in Finland in 1986).
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 Treaty of Moscow in March 1940, Kallio quoted freely from the Book of Zechariah, saying: "May my hand, which is forced to sign such a paper, wither." In the Finnish Presidential Palace, shortly before leaving for the Helsinki Central Railway Station, he sang a hymn with his family (see, for example, Virkkunen, "The Finnish Presidents II"; Hokkanen, "A Biography of Kyösti Kallio, II"; "The Presidents of the Republic 1931-1940" / Tasavallan presidentit 1931-1940, published in Finland around 1993-1994; "Speeches of Kyösti Kallio" / Kyösti Kallion puheet, published in Finland in 1941).
References
External links
Media related to Kyösti Kallio at Wikimedia Commons
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