Rudolf Holsti

Who was Rudolf Holsti?

Eino Rudolf Woldemar Holsti was a Finnish politician, journalist and diplomat. He was the Foreign Minister of Finland 1919–1922 and 1936–1938 and a member of the Finnish Parliament 1913–1918 representing the Young Finnish Party. Since 1919 he represented the National Progressive Party. Holsti represented Finland in the League of Nations. He was also a republican. A firm supporter of democracy, he openly criticized Adolf Hitler at the outbreak of war. Holsti worked for newspapers in Hämeenlinna, Lahti and Helsinki together with his friend and school companion Joel Lehtonen. The friendship ended abruptly when Holsti recognized himself as the satirically portrayed and fictive politician Rolf Idell in Lehtonen's book Sorron lapset. Holsti was also Ambassador to Estonia from 1923 to 1927.

Later in life, Dr. Holsti taught at Stanford University, after he moved to United States with his two sons: Kalevi and Olavi Holsti. He maintained a healthy correspondence with president Herbert Hoover, and the prime minister and president of Finland. He died on August 3, 1945 at Palo Alto Hospital while undergoing surgery to repair a hernia. His wife Liisa died of tuberculosis on July 22, 1951.