Mauno Koivisto - Banker and Politician

Banker and Politician

In addition to his political activities and his working for a living, Koivisto returned to education, passing his intermediate examination in 1947 and his university entrance examination in 1949. In 1951 he became a primary school teacher and in 1952 he married Taimi Kankaanranta (born 1930) (they have a daughter, Assi Koivisto, born 1957, who was selected to a member of the electoral college of the Finnish presidential election in 1982). During this period, Koivisto also finished his studies, graduating from the University of Turku with a Master of Arts degree and a Licentiate in 1953, intending to become a sociologist. Three years later he completed his doctoral thesis about social relations in the Turku dockyards. Koivisto also served as a Vocational Counselor of the City of Turku, and as a member of Turku City Council.

In 1957, he became a banker with the Helsinki Workers' Savings Bank, serving as General Manager from 1959 to 1968. In 1968 he was appointed as Chairman of the board of the Bank of Finland, a position he retained until 1982. During the 1960s, he had to witness intra-party schisms in the Social Democratic party. He tried to improve the party's connections to communists and to President Urho Kekkonen.

The 1966 election victory of the Social Democrats saw the formation of a new government by Rafael Paasio, with Koivisto, the party's expert on economic policy, appointed as Minister of Finance. By the beginning of 1968, however, many people in the Social Democratic Party were dissatisfied with Paasio's leadership style, and Koivisto eventually emerged as the party's candidate to succeed Paasio as Prime Minister, which he did on March 22, 1968. He served as Prime Minister until the Parliamentary election of 1970, which saw the other parties in his coalition government suffer heavy losses, and led to his resignation.

In the 1970s, President Kekkonen seemed to regard Koivisto as his potential rival and supported his Social Democratic colleague, Kalevi Sorsa, instead. Koivisto remained as the Chairman of the Bank of Finland and, following the 1979 Parliamentary election, he was re-elected as Prime Minister. By 1979, there was an increasing dissatisfaction with the aging President Kekkonen, whose failing health was becoming difficult to conceal, and the lack of change. In this situation, Koivisto, as both Prime Minister and Chairman of the Bank of Finland, and with high ratings in opinion polls, was expected to be a future candidate for President.

In the first months of 1981, President Kekkonen began to regret Koivisto's appointment as Prime Minister and to lean towards the side of those who wanted to get rid of him. In spring 1981, members of the Centre Party, whose party was included in the government coalition, launched an attempt behind the scenes to bring down the cabinet with a parliamentary vote of no confidence, so that Koivisto would not be able to conduct a Presidential election campaign from the position of Prime Minister. At the critical moment, however, Koivisto received support from the Finnish People's Democratic League, and Kekkonen no longer had the energy to topple the government when Koivisto called the bluff by refusing to tender his resignation.

Finnish historians, political scientists and journalists still debate whether President Kekkonen really wanted to dismiss Prime Minister Koivisto or whether Kekkonen wanted to speed up Koivisto's slow and ponderous decision-making or whether this government crisis was just a part of the ruthless "presidential game" that top politicians, such as Koivisto, Foreign Minister Väyrynen, Social Democratic Chairman Sorsa, acting Governor of the Bank of Finland Karjalainen, and Parliamentary Speaker Virolainen, were playing (see, for example, Pekka Hyvärinen, "Finland's Man: Urho Kekkonen's Life" / Suomen mies. Urho Kekkosen elämä, Helsinki: Werner Söderström Publications Ltd., 2000; Juhani Suomi, "A Ski Trail Being Snowed In: Urho Kekkonen 1976-1981"/Umpeutuva latu. Urho Kekkonen 1976-1981, Helsinki: Otava Publications Ltd., 2000; Seppo Zetterberg and Allan Tiitta, "Finland Through the Ages"/Suomi kautta aikojen, Helsinki: Valitut Palat/Reader's Digest, 1992). Later that year, as Kekkonen became too ill to carry out his duties, Koivisto became acting President and was able to launch his Presidential election campaign from that position.

During the campaign, Koivisto was questioned on two issues in particular: the nature of his Socialism and on relations with the Soviet Union. For the nature of his socialism, he referred to Eduard Bernstein, an anti-Marxist, pro-capitalism Social Democrat, popularizing the motto: "The important thing is the movement, not the goal." To a journalist's question, intended to be a difficult one, on the issue of relations with Moscow, Koivisto replied that they were nothing to boast about, and this answer merely increased his popularity. Koivisto did not wish to be elected with the support of Moscow.

The voter turnout in the electoral college elections rose to 87% and his wife and daughter were the most popular electors in the electoral college. Koivisto won 167 of the 301 votes in the electoral college on the first round against 58 for his nearest rival, the National Coalition Party candidate Harri Holkeri. Koivisto became the first Social Democrat to be elected as President.