Ahti Karjalainen

Ahti Karjalainen

Ahti Kalle Samuli Karjalainen [ ˈɑhti ˈkɑlːɛ ˈsɑmuli ˈkɑrjɑlɑi̯nɛn ] (born February 10, 1923 in Hirvensalmi as the son of a farmer; † September 7, 1990 in Helsinki ) was a Finnish politician who belonged to the center .

The trained lawyer was brought to the government building by Urho Kekkonen in 1950 as his personal secretary. He stayed that way until Kekkonen became president six years later. After that, Karjalainen took turns taking over almost all of the important ministerial offices in Finland for two decades. In 1962/1963 and 1970/1971 he held the office of Prime Minister for a short time. Karjalainen was Foreign Minister 1961, 1964–1970 and 1972–1975 . Between 1966 and 1979 he was a member of the Finnish parliament for the constituency of Mikkeli- Land. In the last years of his life his drinking problem became evident, although Finnish newspapers did not write about it at the time. On May 13, 1983, President Mauno Koivisto removed Ahti Karjalainen from his post as governor of the National Bank of Finland , which he had held since February 1982, "in the interests of the common good". A few days earlier he had resigned from the Center Party.

Web links

• Ahti Karjalainen Database of Finnish Members of Parliament
• Ahti Karjalainen database of Finnish ministers
• Obituary , Helsingin Sanomat