Editing Juho Kusti Paasikivi (section)

== Prime minister and president ==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Paasikivi statue.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The Paasikivi statue is a famous sculpture in [[Kamppi]], [[Helsinki]]. Although the sculpture is intended as fully abstract, some Finns say that the bigger of the two rocks is Juho Kusti Paasikivi, and the smaller is his wife Alli.{{pufc|Paasikivi statue.jpg|log=2010 February 10}}]] -->
In summer 1941, when the [[Continuation War]] began, Paasikivi took up writing his memoirs. By 1943 he had concluded that Germany was going to lose the war and that Finland was in great danger as well. However, his initial opposition to the pro-German politics of 1940–1941 was too well known, and his first initiatives for peace negotiations were met with little support from either Field Marshal Mannerheim or [[Risto Ryti]], who now had become President.

===From prime minister to president (1946)===
[[File:Mannerheim ja Paasikivi.jpg|thumb|President Paasikivi (right), his wife Alli Paasikivi (middle) and [[C. G. E. Mannerheim]] (left) in 1946]]
Immediately after the war, Mannerheim appointed Paasikivi prime minister. For the first time in Finland a Communist, [[Yrjö Leino]], was included in the cabinet. Paasikivi's policies were those of a intended to be "realistic" radically different from those of the previous 25 years.

Paasikivi sought to understand why Moscow had ordered the invasion of Finland in 1939. He concluded  that interwar Finnish portrayals of the Soviet Union were "heedlessly Russophobic", and that the Soviet attack was legitimate, strategic, and  even "defensive" rather than ideological or expansionist. Consequently, he ensured that negative references to the Soviet Union were expunged from school textbooks and that books containing "hostile" representations of the Soviet Union were removed from public libraries.<ref>{{Harvnb|Browning|Lehti|2011|p=161}}.</ref>

Paasikivi had to comply with many Soviet demands, including the war crimes trial. His main effort was to prove that Finland would present no threat to the Soviet Union, and that both countries would gain from confident peaceful relations.

When Mannerheim resigned, Parliament selected Paasikivi to succeed him as President of the Republic. Paasikivi was then age 75.

===Political evolution===
Paasikivi had thus come a long way from his earlier classical conservatism. He now was willing to co-operate regularly with the Social Democrats and when necessary, even with the Communists, as long as they acted democratically.  As president, he only once accepted his party, the Conservatives, into the government; and even that government lasted only about six months and was considered more a caretaker or civil-servant government than a regular parliamentary government. Paasikivi even appointed a communist, People's Democrat Mauno Pekkala, as prime minister in 1946.

====Dealing with communists====
Paasikivi's political flexibility had its limits; this was shown at the time of the communists' alleged coup attempt or coup plans in spring 1948. He ordered some units of the army and navy to Helsinki to defend the capital against a possible communist attack. Any attempted takeover failed before it had even started, and the communists were defeated in the next parliamentary elections.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.poweroffreedombook.com/preview_PoF.pdf |year=2009 |last=Laar |first=M. |title=The Power of Freedom. Central and Eastern Europe after 1945 |access-date=2012-04-05 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111025246/http://www.poweroffreedombook.com/preview_PoF.pdf |archive-date=2013-11-11 |publisher=Centre for European Studies |page=41 }}</ref>

Most modern Finnish historians deny that most communists wanted a violent coup, especially not without Soviet support. Later in the spring when the Finnish parliament passed a no-confidence motion against Communist Interior Minister Leino because of controversy over Leino's treatment of some mostly White Russian emigrant prisoners whom he had ordered deported to the Soviet Union, Paasikivi had to dismiss Leino when he refused to resign at once. After the 1948 parliamentary elections, when the communists dropped from the largest to the third largest party, Paasikivi refused to let them into the government; and the communists remained in opposition until 1966.<ref name="Zetterberg" >{{Cite book  |editor=Seppo Zetterberg |display-editors=et al.   |trans-title=A Small Giant of the Finnish History  |title=Suomen historian pikkujättiläinen |publisher=Werner Söderström Publishing  |location=Helsinki|language=fi|year=2003}}</ref>

==="Paasikivi doctrine"===
As President, Paasikivi kept the [[foreign relations of Finland]] in the foreground, trying to ensure a stable peace and wider freedom of action for Finland. Paasikivi concluded that, all the fine [[rhetoric]] aside, Finland had to adapt to superpower politics and sign treaties with the Soviet Union to avoid a worse fate. Thus he managed to stabilize Finland's position. This "[[Paasikivi doctrine]]" was adhered to for decades, and was named [[Finlandization]] in the 1970s.

====Knowledge of Russian helped====
Paasikivi's ability to speak some [[Russian language|Russian]] helped his relations with the Soviet leaders; he did not have to use interpreters all the time, as his successor Kekkonen did. Having studied in Russia as a young man, Paasikivi also knew classic Russian literature and Russian culture.<ref>See, for example, "The Diaries of J.K. Paasikivi", edited and published in Finland around 1985–1986; Sakari Virkkunen, "The Finnish Presidents II"; "The Republic's Presidents 1940–1956" / Tasavallan presidentit 1940–1956, published in Finland in 1993–1994; Tuomo Polvinen, "J.K. Paasikivi: The Statesman's Work of Life" / J.K. Paasikivi: Valtiomiehen elämäntyö, published in several volumes in Finland in the 1990s and 2000s.</ref>

===1950 presidential election===
[[File:Paasikivi ja Voroshilov.jpg|thumb|J.K. Paasikivi and chairman of the Supreme Soviet [[Kliment Voroshilov]] in Moscow]]
[[File:Urho Kekkonen and Juho Kusti Paasikivi in Kultaranta, 1955.jpg|thumb|[[Urho Kekkonen]] and J. K. Paasikivi in Kultaranta, 1955]]
Paasikivi stood for re-election in the presidential election of 1950, and he won 171 out of the 300 electoral college votes. The priorities of his second term were centred largely on domestic politics, in contrast to his first term. [[Joseph Stalin]]'s death made Paasikivi's job easier.

As a lover of sports, and a former athlete and gymnast, Paasikivi had the great pleasure, during his second term of office, of opening the [[1952 Summer Olympics]] held in [[Helsinki]]. On the eve of the Summer Olympics, it was only appropriate for the cultured statesman to hold a speech in a world language, English. However, English was not Paasikivi’s strong language, as [[French language|French]] had long been the predominant language of diplomacy. Still, Paasikivi wanted to extend his greetings to foreign guests arriving in Helsinki. The President's speech was as follows:{{blockquote|It gives me great pleasure to address a message of greeting to the young people of the world as they prepare for the fifteenth Olympic Games which are, once again, to be celebrated in a spirit worthy of the ideals of [[Baron de Coubertin]].

This happy cooperation between young people of all countries will serve the great call of concord and peace among the nations of the world.

I am particularly pleased to be sending you this advance greeting because, as a young man, I was myself an enthusiastic gymnast and athlete. And I have retained throughout my life a deep interest in athletics and sports of all kinds.

I am convinced that the Finnish people, loving sport as they do, will spare no effort to make the 1952 Olympic Games a complete success.<ref>[https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2018/07/02/finnish-president-paasikivi-sends-his-olympic-greetings-in-english Finnish president Paasikivi sends his Olympic greetings in English]</ref>}}

By the end of Paasikivi's six-year second term, Finland had rid itself of the most urgent political problems resulting from the war. The [[Karelia]]n refugees had been resettled, the [[war reparations]] had been paid, [[rationing]] had ended, and in January 1956 the Soviet Union removed its troops from the [[Porkkala Naval Base|Porkkala naval base]] near Helsinki.<ref name="Zetterberg" />

===Last minute 1956 candidacy===
[[File:Paasikiven-hautajaiset.jpg|thumb|Juho Kusti Paasikivi's funeral parade on 14 December 1956]] 
Paasikivi did not actively seek re-election from his second term ending 1 March 1956, when he was age 85. However, Paasikivi was willing to serve as president for about two more years if a great majority of politicians asked him to do so. He appeared as a dark horse presidential candidate on the second ballot of the electoral college on 15 February 1956, but was eliminated as the least popular candidate. His last-minute candidacy was based on a misunderstood message from some conservatives which made him believe that enough Agrarians and Social Democrats would support him.

After his unsuccessful last-minute presidential candidacy, Paasikivi felt betrayed by those politicians who asked him to participate in the election. He even denied giving his consent to the presidential candidacy in a public statement.<ref>See, for example, Pekka Hyvärinen, "Finland's Man:  Urho Kekkonen's Life" / Suomen mies:  Urho Kekkosen elämä, published in Finland in 2000;  Tuomo Polvinen, "J.K. Paasikivi:  The Statesman's Work of Life", final volume – years 1948–1956</ref> He died in December, having not yet finished his memoirs.