Ahti Karjalainen

Ahti Kalle Samuli Karjalainen (10 February 1923 – 7 September 1990) was a Finnish economist and politician. He was a member of the Agrarian League (later known as Keskusta, Centre Party) and served two terms as Prime Minister of Finland. He is, however, better known for his period as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland. Karjalainen is considered one of the most influential figures in post-war Finnish politics.

Like President Urho Kekkonen, whom he served as private secretary from 1950, Karjalainen attached great importance to Finland's relationship with the Soviet Union. The two men remained close political allies for more than two decades, and by the 1960s and early 1970s Karjalainen was widely seen as Kekkonen's likely successor as president. Their relationship deteriorated in the early 1970s, and Karjalainen never attained the presidency, in part as alcoholism affected his later career. Alongside politics, he also built a parallel career at the Bank of Finland, ultimately serving as its governor from 1982 to 1983.

Early life and education Karjalainen was born in Hirvensalmi as the youngest of four children. His father was farmer Anselm Karjalainen (1875–1943) and his mother was Anna Lyydia Viherlehto (1880–1962). He studied at the lukio in Mikkeli from 1935 until 1939, then was drafted into the army in the Winter War, serving in a radio reconnaissance unit. After the Winter War ended, Karjalainen briefly continued his education at the Lutheran folk high school in Tuusula, but once the Continuation War broke out, he returned to his old radio reconnaissance unit, serving at listening stations in Petrozavodsk (Äänislinna) and Medvezhyegorsk (Karhumäki) in the Finnish-occupied Republic of Karelia. During his second stint in the army, Karjalainen also attended the Reserve Officer School in Niinisalo and was promoted to the reserves with the rank of captain.

In 1944, after being discharged, Karjalainen entered the University of Helsinki, where he obtained his bachelor's degree in political science in 1946. He subsequently obtained his licentiate degree in 1958 and defended his doctorate in political science at the same university in 1959. His dissertation was titled "The relationships between the monetary politics of the Bank of Finland and the state economy from 1811 to 1953 mainly regarding liquidity analysis".

Political career Inauguration ceremony for the Urho Kekkonen presidency in 1968. Here the President meets the representants of diplomats. Behind him, the minister Ahti Karjalainen

Night Frost Crisis and the EFTA negotiations During the so-called Night Frost Crisis of 1958, Karjalainen's personal contacts with Soviet representatives continued to function even as official relations were frozen, and several messages from the Kremlin to Kekkonen were relayed through him. He was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry in January 1959, working chiefly to safeguard Finland's position within the Western European economic sphere. Together with Kekkonen, Karjalainen led the negotiations that allowed Finland, despite Soviet opposition, to join the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in 1961 as an associate member, through the so-called FINEFTA agreement. In a secret letter, Karjalainen committed Finland to extending all of its EFTA benefits to the Soviet Union, which reinforced Soviet interest in keeping both Karjalainen and Kekkonen in power. and Minister of Trade and Industry for half a decade from 1957. Kekkonen's re-election in the 1962 presidential election was far from certain: the opposition had put forward Olavi Honka as a rival candidate in 1961. Kekkonen had already planned in April 1961 to dissolve parliament in order to weaken the alliance behind Honka, and in late October the Soviet Union sent a note invoking Article 2 of the 1948 YYA Treaty's provisions on the threat of war — the so-called Note Crisis.

Karjalainen's second government, formed on 15 July 1970, came about only after considerable pressure from the Soviet Union. Negotiations to renew the Finno-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance (the YYA Treaty) were underway that year, and Moscow made a majority government in Finland a precondition for renewal; despite his by-then strained relationship with Karjalainen, Kekkonen was compelled to accept a new government under his leadership.

Following a caretaker government under Teuvo Aura and a Social Democratic minority government under Rafael Paasio, which took office on 23 February 1972, a majority government under Kalevi Sorsa — comprising the SDP, the Centre Party, the Swedish People's Party and the Liberal People's Party — was formed on 4 September 1972,

Relationship with Kekkonen Karjalainen's appointment as Kekkonen's private secretary in 1950 marked the beginning of their long political partnership. In the late 1960s their relationship was also strained by the Nordek project, a proposed Nordic economic union championed by Prime Minister Mauno Koivisto that ultimately foundered on differing national interests and left Koivisto's relations with both Kekkonen and Foreign Minister Karjalainen "strongly strained". The relationship between Kekkonen and Karjalainen soured decisively in 1971, when Kekkonen dismissed Karjalainen's second government, ending two decades of close cooperation. He also served as chairman of the Finnish-Soviet Economic Cooperation Commission (fi:Suomalais-neuvostoliittolainen taloudellinen yhteistyökomissio) from 1967 until 1983.

Personal life

Karjalainen married Päivi Koskinen in 1947. They had four children; their third child, (born 1952), is an author and a political scientist.

In his final years, Karjalainen died of pancreatic cancer at the Riistavuori retirement home in Helsinki on 7 September 1990. He is buried in Hietaniemi Cemetery.

Works Doctoral dissertation on Bank of Finland monetary policy and Finnish state finances, 1811–1953 (1959) Minun näkökulmastani. Vuosikymmen ulko-, kauppa- ja talouspolitiikkaa (1970) Mukana Suomessa (1976) Kotimaani ompi Suomi. Mietteitä ja muistelmia (1981) Presidentin ministeri. Ahti Karjalaisen ura Urho Kekkosen Suomessa (with J. Tarkka, 1989)

Cabinets Karjalainen I Cabinet Karjalainen II Cabinet