Zoom in on Kekkonen! Press Photographs -exhibition at Tamminiemi

Photographs - Pictures 1 to 10

1.

President Urho Kekkonen visits the World Gold Panning Championships in the Tankavaara village in Lapland on Sunday 24 July 1977. Gold-digger Niilo Raumala is having a smoke next to the president.

Christian Westerback / Pressfoto Zeeland / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

2.

The cover of the 33/1976 issue of the Seura magazine promises a colour reportage of Kekkonen as the “conqueror of the US”. President Urho Kekkonen puts on a top hat decorated with Finnish and US flags as he visits the celebration of Finnish Americans in the copper mining town of Hancock, Michigan on Sunday 1 August 1976. During his visit to the United States the president received a gold medal from the State of Minnesota “for his remarkable achievements as a mediator between the East and the West”.

Kari Santala / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

3.

The Helsingin Sanomat newspaper reports that on Friday, the President of Hungary Pál Losonczi shot 170 pheasants and President Urho Kekkonen 120 pheasants. On Saturday, President Kekkonen brought down a seven-year-old mouflon. President Kekkonen’s four-day visit to Hungary ended with a hunting trip south of Budapest on 19 and 20 November 1976.

Christian Westerback / Pressfoto Zeeland / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

4.

“Do you have enough material for your story yet?” President Urho Kekkonen asks Teija Sopanen, reporter for the Suur-Seura magazine, on Thursday 11 August 1977 in Iceland, and offers his help: “Well, I’ll lend you a hand.”

This was the president’s second state visit to Iceland. The official programme ended with fishing with the hosts on the Laxá river on Friday 12 August 1977, and the president (left) and his party are just departing for another fishing excursion to the Vididalsa river in northern Iceland. Teija Sopanen (right) is seeing him off. The president caught 14 salmon on his visit to Iceland. “No-one in the party matched that, even though most of them had been fishing on the Vididalsa for almost the entire week”, the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper reports on 15 August 1977.

Kari Santala / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

5.

President Urho Kekkonen wearing his Russian fur hat at Porojärvi in the northeastern part of Finnish Lapland on Sunday 19 April 1970. Behind him Carl Gustaf, the crown prince of Sweden, whom Kekkonen had invited for an ice-fishing trip. Carl Gustaf’s arm is in a sling, because he had fallen down on a skiing slope in the Easter.

Helge Heinonen / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

6.

“He is springy, youthful as a rascal, manly, has a good posture, in a word a true Finn”, sings popular singer Eija Sinikka in “Urkin Humppa”, a popular song that gets its title from Kekkonen’s nickname “Urkki”. Eija Sinikka presents Urho Kekkonen with the first copy of the recording of “Urkin Humppa” at the president’s summer residence Kultaranta in Naantali on 7 July 1977.

Esa Pyysalo / Pressfoto Zeeland / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

7.

“President Kekkonen climbs towards the top of a palm tree accompanied by natives. Kekkonen watched the Tunisians climbing the trees at the El Hamma oasis, took off his shoes and jacket, had a brief consultation with his doctor, and began to climb to the heights”, reports the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper on 10 October 1965. The president climbed a date palm on his trip to Tunisia on Friday 8 October 1965. The stunt “has inspired in the Tunisians admiration and unreserved respect for the physical fitness and youthful mind of our head of state”.

Stina Mäenpää / Pressfoto Zeeland / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

8.

President Urho Kekkonen fishing for salmon in the Vididalsa river in Northern Iceland on Saturday 16 August 1975. The president is wearing fishing waders and a blue-and-white beanie.

Kari Santala / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

9.

The text published on the “P.S.” section of the Seura magazine’s issue 10/1975 tells that the president is skiing on gift skis: “In the middle, plastic foam, a bit of wood on both sides, all wrapped in plastic. Wax is applied to the bottom groove depending on the weather.” President Urho Kekkonen departing for two hours of skiing from his seaside Tamminiemi residence on Wednesday 26 February 1975.

Pentti Vänskä / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

10.

President Urho Kekkonen at the window of Napoleon’s ancestral home in Ajaccio, France on Wednesday 31 October 1962. At the end of their visit to France, President Kekkonen and First Lady Sylvi Kekkonen (right) stayed for a couple of days in Corsica, where President Kekkonen was given the title of honorary burgher of Ajaccio. The Viikkosanomat magazine reported on the trip under the headline “Independent Finland’s first state visit to France”.

Caj Bremer

Photographs - Pictures 11 to 31

11.

President Urho Kekkonen tells in the VIP magazine in December 1973 that his favourite pair of slippers were a Christmas present from his granddaughter Salla. He uses them particularly in the evening time, because “in the morning there’s not always time to wear slippers, as I head out to ski”. The article in men’s magazine VIP was jokingly titled “Tasavallan suurimmat tohvelisankarit”, literally “The top slipper-heroes in the republic”, “slipper-hero” being the Finnish idiom for a henpecked husband.

Kari Laakso / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

12.

The elk hunting party of President Urho Kekkonen take a drink to celebrate a kill in Östersundom in Sipoo, southern Finland on Saturday 16 October 1976: Master of the hunt Harry Wahlman (third from left), President Kekkonen and Consul General Sven Sevelius. The younger hunters Kim and Tom Pessala keep an eye on the events in the background. President Kekkonen traditionally opened the elk hunting season by personally participating in a hunt.

Hannu Lindroos / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

13.

President Urho Kekkonen having a discussion with Finnish school children outside the Finnish embassy in Moscow on Tuesday 29 July 1980. At the beginning of the second week of the Moscow Olympics, Ambassador Jaakko Hallama with his wife Anita Hallama (left) organised a reception at the embassy for the entire Finnish Olympic team. President Kekkonen was a guest of honour.

Hannu Lindroos / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

14.

President Urho Kekkonen exercising with his dog Ludmila on the Seurasaari island in Helsinki in 1970. The Russian wolfhound Mila was a present from the Soviet Union, as was polar bear Misha, who President Kekkonen received from the crew of the Soviet ice breaker Murmansk in December 1969. Sesse Koivisto describes in her book Tapiiri sohvapöydän alla how the almost one-year-old Misha, weighing more than 70 kilograms, was handed over to the president on a leash, which he was quick to hand to Ilkka Koivisto, the general curator of the Korkeasaari Zoo. Korkeasaari would become Misha’s home.

Kai Hagström / Pressfoto Zeeland / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

15.

President Urho Kekkonen poses for the film crew of Mainos-TV (the only commercial TV company in Finland at the time) at the summer cottage of his personal physician Richard Sotamaa on the Käpysaari island of the Konnevesi lake on Sunday 15 June 1975. Mainos-TV was making a documentary about the president to honour his 75^th birthday. The celebratory document is produced by Riittasisko Jukkala-Benisch (middle), cinematographed by Risto Inkinen, and directed by Juhan af Grann (background left). In an interview by the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper on 3 May 1975, director Juhan af Grann described President Kekkonen as a “citizen of the world” and the “king bee” of Finland.

Heikki Y. Rissanen / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

16.

“So it is, if you think so” was the title of the female portrait painted by President Kekkonen. The other painting by the president was a self-portrait. President presenting his works to the press in the studio of sculptor Kimmo Pyykkö in Helsinki on Wednesday 23 April 1975. The works were part of the Suntai 75 exhibition displaying works of amateur artists in Kunsthalle Helsinki and the Tampere Museum of Contemporary Art in May to June 1975.

“I hope that as many exhibition guests as possible will touch my painting and get into contact with art, so to speak”, the president is quoted saying in the 18/1975 issue of the Suomen Kuvalehti magazine. The profits of the sales of the exhibition were donated to World Wildlife Fund Finland.

Pentti Vänskä / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

17.

“Is Kekkonen irreplaceable? Does Kekkonen himself also perhaps see himself as irreplaceable? Are we of opinion that the present president is the only person who can take responsibility of the foreign policy of this country? In general, is anyone irreplaceable?” These four questions were used by reporter Arto Paasilinna to sum up the incumbent president’s campaign speech in the 51/1967 issue of the Suomen Kuvalehti magazine. President Kekkonen started his presidential campaign in the great hall of the University of Jyväskylä on Thursday 14 December 1967. The campaign speech was followed by a performance by the Female Gymnasts of the Jyväskylä Workers’ Association.

Jorma Blomqvist / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

18.

All 28 inhabitants of the Veihtivaara village waving goodbyes to President Urho Kekkonen, who is departing from the yard of the Pöllänen house on Sunday 12 September 1976: on the left Lempi Kinnunen, in the foreground Veikko and Martta Pöllänen. Newspaper Kaleva describes how the president ate fowl soup, Karelian pirogs, and leipäjuusto (Finnish squeaky cheese) at the table of the Pöllänen house while discussing road issues. Martta Pöllänen, the lady of the house, had written to the president and expressed her concern about the lack of a road. Thanks to the president engaging with the issue, three kilometres of road were built to reach the Veihtivaara village. The president stopped at the Veihtivaara village of Suomussalmi, close to Finland’s eastern border, on his provincial trip in the Kainuu region.

Tapio Maikkola / Kaleva / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

19.

President of Finland Urho Kekkonen invited the Swedish Crown Prince Carl Gustaf (left) to a fishing trip in the northwestern part of Finnish Lapland. The president and the crown prince at the Porojärvi lake on Sunday 19 April 1970.

Kekkonen’s base was the wilderness cabin owned by the state-owned electricity companies Imatran Voima and Kemijoki Oy. The cabin was at the Porojärvi lake, about 30 kilometres east of Kilpisjärvi. Magazines Apu and Suomen Kuvalehti, newspapers Lapin Kansa and Pohjolan Sanomat, and news picture agency Lehtikuva had sent their reporters and photographers out to the wilderness to meet the president and the crown prince. Reporter Hannu Parpola writes in Apu magazine’s issue 17/1970, that there were two tents for newspapermen, pitched two kilometres away from Kekkonen’s lodgings. “One of the tents even had a heating stove.”

Helge Heinonen / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

20.

President Urho Kekkonen is testing whether the puukko knife donated by knifesmith Setti Keränen is sharp enough for shaving, reports newspaper Kaleva on 3 July 1977. Head of the Provincial Government Erkki Haukipuro observes from safe distance. The President stopped for a cup of coffee at the Keränen house in Kajaani on Saturday 2 July 1977 when visiting the Kainuu region.

Eljas Sallmén / Kaleva / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

21.

President of Finland Urho Kekkonen ice fishing on the Somaslompolo lake in northwestern Lapland on Sunday 19 April 1970. A border guard sights for fish through the ice.

The president had invited the Swedish Crown Prince Carl Gustaf to join him on a fishing trip. When the crown prince arrived by helicopter to the Porojärvi lake on Sunday morning, “the President adjusted the front of his olive drab quilted coat that had been patched with a band-aid and, with his hands in his pockets, started to walk towards the helicopter landing site”, reporter Hannu Parpola writes in the Apu magazine’s issue 17/1970.

Helge Heinonen / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

22.

President Urho Kekkonen attending a fair in 1958.

UA Saarinen / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

23.

President Urho Kekkonen and Yugoslavian President Josip Broz Tito (right) on their way to Tito’s summer residence on the Brijuni (Brioni) Islands on Monday 23 January 1967. The first destination on a ten-day tour was Yugoslavia. President Kekkonen’s son Taneli Kekkonen was the Finnish ambassador to Yugoslavia, and the 9-year-old grandson Timo spoke Serbo-Croatian. Press photographer Jorma Blomqvist tells that Timo acted as an interpreter during the ship journey.

Jorma Blomqvist / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

24.

“You have the physical fitness of a 40-year-old, Mr. President, right?”

“Something of an exaggeration. I think the 40-year-old whose fitness I beat is rather weak.”

President Urho Kekkonen being interviewed by reporter Maarit Tyrkkö in the Meilahti Hospital in Helsinki on 11 July 1974. The interview touching the president’s prostate problems was published in the Suomen Kuvalehti magazine’s issue 29/1974. The results of a fitness test the president had taken at the Peurunka rehabilitation centre were also published in the same issue.

Heikki Y. Rissanen / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

25.

President Urho Kekkonen and First Lady Sylvi Kekkonen received a Morris Mini Minor at the presidential residence Tamminiemi on Thursday 15 June 1961. The car was a gift the President was given while visiting Britain, and meant for the First Lady’s use.

Ritva Nordström, who in the 1960s worked at a chemists and bookshop called Birgitta, remembers how Sylvi Kekkonen would often drive the Mini to the park next to the Naantali bus station and park it on the sidewalk. After carrying Sylvi’s shopping to the car, Nordström would help her to turn the car around, to the direction of the president’s summer residence Kultaranta.

Mauri Vuorinen / Uusi Suomi - Iltalehti / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

26.

The third government of Prime Minister Urho Kekkonen enjoy the Vaskiniemi sauna of the Finnish Sauna Society in Lauttasaari, Helsinki in August 1952. Kekkonen (left), minister of the Ministry of Agriculture Matti Lepistö (Social Democratic Party), Minister of Communications and Public Works Emil Huunonen (Social Democratic Party), minister of the Ministry of Social Affairs Lauri Murtomaa (Agrarian League), Minister of Agriculture Matti Miettunen (Agrarian League), Minister of Trade and Industry Penna Tervo (Social Democratic Party), and Minister of Education Reino Oittinen (Social Democratic Party).

A. Pietinen / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

27.

Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin (left) and Finnish President Urho Kekkonen describe their catch on the deck of icebreaker Tarmo off the coast of Hanko on Wednesday 9 October 1968. Kosygin made an unexpected visit to Finland on a Soviet navy ship to fish with President Kekkonen on 7–9 October 1968. The declaration issued following the meeting states that “the policy pursued by Finland and the Soviet Union aiming at comprehensive development of friendship and fruitful co-operation between the peoples of both countries stands firm”.

The Warsaw Pact forces had occupied Czechoslovakia on 20–21 August 1968.

V. K. Hietanen / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

28.

President Urho Kekkonen’s 80th birthday. The president receives guests at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday 3 September 1980.

Heikki Y. Rissanen / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

29.

“What would the state be without the head of state walking on the path to sauna?” asks the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper on Saturday 3 May 1975. President Urho Kekkonen was taking a ten-day skiing holiday by the Porojärvi lake in the northwestern part of Finnish Lapland, his tenth such holiday. After his daily 40–50 kilometres of skiing, the president goes to sauna. Kekkonen returns from sauna walking in Hai rubber boots and the Polariina outfit given to him by Mining Counselor Kauko Rastas, CEO of the Polar construction company.

According to the newspaper, the president suggests, that instead of the “gallery of horrors” in front of the Parliament building, his monument should be erected on top of the Saivaara fell, clearly visible from the Porojärvi wilderness cabin.

Caj Bremer

30.

President Kekkonen getting his morning exercise on the Seurasaari island in Helsinki on Saturday 6 June 1959. “President exercises six times a week, every day except for Fridays, when there is the Presidential session of the Government”, the Suomen Kuvalehti magazine states in issue 35/1975. Issue 36/1975 reveals that the president’s motto is “every reason that prevents us from exercising regularly is an excuse”.

Jussi Pohjakallio / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency

31.

President Urho Kekkonen fishing for salmon in the Vididalsa river in northern Iceland on Saturday 16 August 1975. The Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) had ended and in the president’s opinion, fishing was the best way to relax. The fishing trip was hosted by Mining Counselor Antti Aarnio-Wihuri, who in an interview by the Seura magazine stated that the most important things in fishing were “knowledge, skill, and luck”, all of which the president had had. The Helsingin Sanomat newspaper revealed in the 19 August 1975 issue that the president’s catch was more than 100 kilograms of salmon.

Kari Santala / Otavamedia / Press Photo Archive JOKA / Finnish Heritage Agency