Ahti Karjalainen

Who was Ahti Karjalainen?

Ahti Kalle Samuli Karjalainen was a Finnish politician. He was a member of the Agrarian League and was Prime Minister of Finland for two terms, although he is best remembered as one the longest serving Foreign Ministers of Finland. Karjalainen is considered one of the most influential people in post-war Finnish politics and economy. Like president Urho Kekkonen, Karjalainen was considered to put much emphasis on Finland's relations with Soviet Union.

Karjalainen served as second Minister of Treasury, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Trade and Industry from 1957, until he formed his first government on 13 April 1962, which was in session for 615 days until 18 December 1963. After that, the government was disbanded because SAK-sympathetic ministers had resigned because of economy-political disagreements. Karjalainen's second government was in session 15 July 1970–29 October 1971. Karjalainen's ministrial career continued with only minor breaks to May, 1977, when he had spent 5772 days as a political minister. In the history of Finnish politics, this is second only to Johannes Virolainen. Karjalainen was nominated as a candidate for the Parliament of Finland in 1966 and served as Member of the Parliament for 13 years.