Word: kekkonen
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...that there was "scant domestic support" for the propaganda jamboree. Besides, the government added, theaters, stadiums and schools needed for festival functions were all under repair and would not be ready in time to accommodate the visitors. But after a little pressure from Moscow on Finnish President Urho K. Kekkonen, Helsinki's Olympic Stadium suddenly became available for the opening session. City officials offered 36 schools; ample television coverage was promised. A Cabinet statement cautioned the heavily anti-Russian country−particularly its youth organizations−that Finnish independence would be jeopardized by even the smallest "pinpricks" that would...
Finland owes its precarious freedom, says President Urho K. Kekkonen, to the ability "to live on fine distinctions." In foreign affairs, the tiny nation follows a policy of friendly neutrality toward its giant Soviet neighbor, but in its internal politics, Finland has steadfastly denied power to the Communists. In parliamentary elections last week, Finland again demonstrated its gift for fine distinctions: it slapped down local Communists with out overtly offending Moscow...
...elections were the latest installment of a political cliffhanger that began last fall when Moscow started making menacing noises suggesting a Soviet military move against Finland. At the time, President Kekkonen rushed to Siberia for a soothing meeting with Nikita Khrushchev, assured him of Finland's firm friendship with Russia, and returned home with a ringing plea that Finnish anti-Communists ought to quit public life. Only a few took his advice. In presidential elections last month, Kekkonen himself was overwhelmingly re-elected as the man who could get along with Moscow. In last week's parliamentary race...
...voters (83% of the electorate), the Reds lost three of their 50 seats in the 200-seat parliament. Among the losers: Party Chairman Aino Aaltonen, who had held his seat from the city of Turku since 1945. The defeat dropped the Communists to second place in parliament, topped by Kekkonen's Agrarians, who were able to gain six seats for a new total of 53. A more serious loss was suffered by the fellow-traveling Independent Socialists: twelve of their 14 representatives were defeated. The strongly anti-Communist Social Democrats picked up only one seat for a new parliamentary...
...Kekkonen was apparently carrying out Khrushchev's wishes in urging anti-Communists to quit-but many Finns felt that he was also acting with considerable relish for his own political gain. Ignoring the Kekkonen plea, the Social Democrats defiantly nominated Rafael Paasio. chairman of Parliament's foreign-relations committee, to run against Kekkonen in next month's vote for the presidency. The Conservative Party decided not to run its own presidential candidate, but pledged to remain in the fight for parliamentary general elections in February. Kekkonen's principal support was thus reduced to his own Agrarian...