Lauri Kristian Relander

Lauri Kristian Relander ( , ; 31 May 1883 – 9 February 1942) was the president of Finland (1925–1931). A prominent member of the Agrarian League, he served as a member of Parliament, and as Speaker, before his election as president.

Relander is widely regarded as the most unknown of Finland's presidents, as he has been considered a colorless and weak president who, during a domestic politically broken period, allowed himself to be guided without a clear line of his own. He was elected largely due to the fact that he attracted less opposition than Risto Ryti. According to some contemporaries, at least the Swedish People's Party electors more eagerly voted for Relander because his wife happened to be a Finnish Swede. That story may be partly apocryphal because Ryti also had a Finnish-Swedish wife. On the other hand, Ryti had campaigned as a "Finnish peasant's son." Strong right-wing opposition to the outgoing Progressive (liberal) President K. J. Ståhlberg, Ryti's membership in the same party, and at least some career politicians' desire for a more approachable and less independent President may partly explain Relander's victory.

Two other important factors should be mentioned. Relander was an active member of the "Suojeluskunta" (Civil Guard) voluntary military organization, and he accepted the right-wing worldview typical of White veterans of the Civil War clearly more wholeheartedly than Ryti. Also as people, Relander and Ryti were notably different: despite having a doctorate, Relander was much more talkative and social than the intellectual and thoughtful Ryti.

President Relander and President of Latvia Jānis Čakste during Relander's 1926 official visit to Latvia. In the background, the Foreign Minister of Finland Eemil Nestor Setälä to the right. As President, Relander was politically inexperienced and young. Politicians and other opinion leaders could not take him seriously. Relander had no political base to speak of, and he was deemed to have no particular program for his presidency, Relander read the daily newspapers carefully and acquired a radio for the Presidential Palace, from which he could listen to the parliamentary question-and-answer debate for half a day at a time. However, he received little love in return from the media, and Helsingin Sanomat, the mouthpiece of the Progressive Party at the time, was particularly hostile towards him. Once, he invited Helsingin Sanomat's editor-in-chief Eljas Erkko for coffee at the Presidential Palace with the intention of improving his relations with the newspaper, but the hour-long conversation did not produce the desired result in this regard. He maintained a rather close friendship with the Social Democratic leader, Väinö Tanner. As it is, the dispute between Relander and Kallio was due to personal chemistry and political line differences, as Relander, for example, was more positive about right-wing radicalism, a nationalist movement like the Lapua Movement, which marked his presidency so badly that his own party representatives were not worth defending. Even later, the battle for the party was personified by Kallio and J. E. Sunila, the latter of whom was supported by Relander. Relander died on 9 February 1942 of heart failure. An abstract Relander Memorial sculpture by Matti Peltokangas was erected on Helsinki's Hesperia Esplanade in 1996.

Honours National Honours Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim

Foreign Honours Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav Knight of the Order of the Elephant Cross of Liberty Order of the Cross of the Eagle Order of the Three Stars, 1st Class with Collar (17 Nov 1928) Order of the White Eagle Order of Leopold

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