Johannes Virolainen

Prime Minister of Finland

31 January 1914 Viipurin maalaiskunta, Finland

11 December 2000(2000-12-11) (86) Lohja, Finland

12 September 1964 – 27 May 1966

Finnish politician Valtioneuvos Johannes VirolainenVirolainen in 1955.30th Prime Minister of FinlandIn office 12 September 1964 – 27 May 1966PresidentUrho KekkonenDeputyAhti KarjalainenPreceded by Reino R. LehtoSucceeded by Rafael PaasioSpeaker of the Finnish ParliamentIn office 5 June 1979 – 25 March 1983Preceded by Ahti PekkalaSucceeded by Erkki PystynenIn office 3 June 1966 – 26 March 1968Preceded by Rafael PaasioSucceeded by V. J. SukselainenMinister of Foreign AffairsIn office 29 August 1958 – 4 December 1958Prime Minister Karl-August FagerholmPreceded by Paavo HynninenSucceeded by Karl-August FagerholmIn office 27 May 1957 – 29 November 1957Prime Minister V. J. SukselainenPreceded by Ralf TörngrenSucceeded by Paavo HynninenIn office 20 October 1954 – 3 March 1956Prime Minister Urho KekkonenPreceded by Urho KekkonenSucceeded by Ralf TörngrenDeputy Prime Minister of FinlandIn office 15 May 1977 – 26 May 1979Prime Minister Kalevi SorsaPreceded by Ahti KarjalainenSucceeded by Eino UusitaloIn office 22 March 1968 – 14 May 1970Prime Minister Mauno KoivistoPreceded by Reino OittinenSucceeded by Päiviö HetemäkiIn office 13 April 1962 – 18 December 1963Prime Minister Ahti KarjalainenPreceded by Eemil LuukkaSucceeded by Aarne NuorvalaIn office 29 August 1958 – 4 December 1958Prime Minister Karl-August FagerholmPreceded by Tyyne Leivo-LarssonSucceeded by Onni HiltunenIn office 31 October 1957 – 29 November 1957Prime Minister V. J. SukselainenPreceded by Aarre SimonenSucceeded by Reino OittinenIn office 11 January 1957 – 27 May 1957Prime Minister Karl-August FagerholmPreceded by Position establishedSucceeded by Nils MeinanderMinister of EducationIn office 3 March 1956 – 27 May 1957Prime Minister Karl-August FagerholmPreceded by Kerttu SaalastiSucceeded by Kerttu SaalastiIn office 5 May 1954 – 20 October 1954Prime Minister Ralf TörngrenPreceded by Arvo SalminenSucceeded by Kerttu SaalastiIn office 9 July 1953 – 17 November 1953Prime Minister Urho KekkonenPreceded by Reino OittinenSucceeded by Arvo Salminen Personal detailsBorn(1914-01-31 ) 31 January 1914 Viipurin maalaiskunta, FinlandDied11 December 2000(2000-12-11) (aged 86) Lohja, FinlandNationalityFinnishPolitical partyAgrarian League/Centre PartySpouse(s)Kaarina Virolainen Kyllikki Virolainen (1981–2000) Johannes VirolainenMinister of AgricultureIn office 29 September 1976 – 26 May 1979Prime Minister Martti Miettunen Kalevi SorsaPreceded by Heimo LinnaSucceeded by Taisto TähkämaaIn office 14 July 1961 – 18 December 1963Prime Minister Martti Miettunen Ahti KarjalainenPreceded by Juho JaakkolaSucceeded by Samuli SuomelaMinister of FinanceIn office 4 September 1972 – 13 June 1975Prime Minister Kalevi SorsaPreceded by Mauno KoivistoSucceeded by Heikki Tuominen Johannes Virolainen (pronounced  ( listen ) ; 31 January 1914 – 11 December 2000) was a Finnish politician and who served as 30th Prime Minister of Finland. Virolainen was born near Viipuri. After the Continuation War Virolainen moved to Lohja, but he remained one of the leaders of the evacuated Karelians, and never gave up the hope that Soviet Union and later Russia would return Finnish Karelia to Finland. After World War II Virolainen became the first president of the Maaseudun Nuorten Liitto later known as Finnish Centre Youth, which has been educating tens of ministers and hundreds of members of the Finnish Parliament. He was also famous as a teetotaller, saying that the only circumstance where he would countenance downing a toast would be if Karelia was ceded back to Finland. He was fond of repeating the line, and it has been claimed that he said it to, among others, Nikita Khrushchev and Anastas Mikoyan on the Soviet side, to fend off needling by them for lacking the Soviet style of social graces. A member of the Agrarian League (later the Centre Party), Virolainen was a Member of Parliament 1945–1983 and 1987–1991. He had a long ministerial career, serving as Assistant Minister of the Interior 1950–1951; Minister at the Council of State Chancellery 1951, and 1956–1957; Minister of Education 1953, 1954, 1956–1957, and 1968–1970; Minister of Foreign Affairs 1954–1956, 1957, and 1958; Deputy Prime Minister 1957, 1958, 1962–1963, 1968–1970, and 1977–1979; Minister of Agriculture 1961–1963; Minister of Finance 1972–1975; and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry 1976–1979. Virolainen was Prime Minister from 1964–1966, presiding over a coalition government comprising the Centre Party, National Coalition Party, Swedish People's Party, and Finnish People's Party. He also served as Speaker of the Parliament from 1966–1968 and 1979–1983. Virolainen is considered one of the strongest Centre Party leaders in the post-war era, second only to Urho Kekkonen. Virolainen had a variable, often tense relationship with President Kekkonen, who considered him an unreliable, too frequently opinion-changing politician (Juhani Suomi, "A Ski Trail Being Snowed In: Urho Kekkonen 1976-1981" / Umpeutuva latu. Urho Kekkonen 1976-1981, Helsinki: Otava Publishing Ltd., 2000). Virolainen himself claimed that the two basic reasons for their tense relationship were that he had never been a member of the right-wing, nationalist Academic Karelia Society (Kekkonen had, until 1932), and that he was a teetotaller (Kekkonen drank and at times smoked). Moreover, Kekkonen was unconvinced that Virolainen always supported his official foreign policy toward the Soviet Union. In June 1979, he publicly rebuked Virolainen, who was then Speaker of Parliament, for "bearing a false testimony" about Finland's foreign policy, and for harming Finland's international relations. Shortly before this harsh accusation, Virolainen had suggested in an interview by the Suomen Kuvalehti magazine that the National Coalition Party had remained in the opposition despite its major victory in the 1979 parliamentary elections because of "general reasons" or foreign policy. Grave of Johannes Virolainen and his wife Kyllikki Virolainen in Lohja, Finland. After Kekkonen resigned in October 1981, Virolainen became the Centre Party's presidential candidate, but he was handily defeated in the 1982 presidential elections by the Social Democratic candidate, Mauno Koivisto. In the 1983 parliamentary elections, Virolainen was one of the major-party deputies to lose their seats because of allegations that he had illegally received the parliamentary daily allowance for commuting between Helsinki and his official hometown. Determined to finish his parliamentary career in style, he was re-elected to Parliament in the 1987 parliamentary elections. During his last electoral term, Virolainen supported constitutional amendment proposals that reduced the President's power. During his nine-year retirement from Parliament, Virolainen still actively followed the Finnish political affairs and sometimes gave interviews on current topics (the Finnish broadcasting corporation YLE "Living Archives" / Elävä arkisto, search words: "Johannes Virolainen"). He also wrote some volumes of political memoirs, including "A Defence of Politics" (Politiikan puolustus), "From the Path" (Polun varrelta), and "The Pictures Move" (Kuvat kulkevat). Cabinets Virolainen Cabinet