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Urho
Kalevala Kekkonen was born in the Savo region of
Finland, but he lived his childhood in Kainuu. During the Finnish Civil War,
he fought on the White side and led an execution squad in Hamina. In independent Finland, Kekkonen worked as a
policeman and a journalist. In 1927, he became a lawyer, but had to resign
due to his abrasive comments. Politically, he was a nationalist, and close to
right-wing radicalism. He was also an active athlete and columnist. In 1950, Kekkonen lost the presidential
election, but Juho Kusti Paasikivi selected him as a prime minister. In all
his four cabinets he emphasized his role to create and maintain friendly
relations with the Soviet Union. This was called in foreign countries as
Finlandization. Kekkonen was elected president in 1956. As
president, Kekkonen continued the neutrality policy of president Paasikivi,
which came to be known as the Paasikivi-Kekkonen line. From the beginning he
ruled with the assumption that the Soviet Union accepted only him; the
country at the time was some times called Kekkoslovakia. Kekkonen was re-elected normally in 1968. In
1973, he was re-elected by emergency law. In 1978 there were no serious
rivals left. In 1981, Kekkonen begun to suffer from
undisclosed disease that seemed to affect his brain functions. In the same
year, Mauno Koivisto had already defied Kekkonen by refusing to resign. In
September, Kekkonen left for sick leave, and in October he resigned. Kekkonen
died 1986 and was buried with full honors. |
Urho KEKKONEN
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(Based on www.wikipedia.org)
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