Urho Kekkonen ja puolustusvoimain komentajat 1945-1981

Kirjoittajat

• Pentti Airio

Avainsanat:

sotahistoria, Urho Kekkonen, Yrjö Keinonen, puolustusvoimain ylipäällikkö, puolustusvoimain komentajat, nimittäminen

Abstrakti

URHO KEKKONEN AND THE CHIEFS OF DEFENCE DURING 1945 - 1981 The influence of Urho Kekkonen on Finland’s security policy during 1939-1945 after the wars was considerable. The core of security policy was formed by foreign policy, supported by other sectors. Military national defence did not receive the position that the military leadership would have wanted among the issues that Kekkonen regarded as the most important. As Minister and later Head of State, Urho Kekkonen influenced the appointment or resignation of the following Chiefs of Defence: Heinrichs, Lundqvist, Sihvo, Heiskanen, Simelius, Keinonen, Leinonen and Sutela. General Lauri Sutela was the first that can be considered to have been among the President’s confidants and a member of his inner circle. As Minister of the Interior, Kekkonen influenced the resignation of Erik Heinrichs in June 1945 when the whole extent of the arms cache issue was made public. On the other hand, the resignation of J.F. Lundqvist was more a result of the will of C.G. Mannerheim, who was President of the Republic at the time. Kekkonen also influenced both the choice of Aarne Sihvo as well as his resignation. Sihvo was forced to retire when he reached the age of 63. Urho Kekkonen was clearly satisfied with Kaarlo Heiskanen, as the statutory age of retirement for the Chief of Defence was returned to 65 years of age during Heiskanen’s time. In 1959, President Kekkonen would have wanted to appoint Tauno Viljanen as Chief of Defence instead of Sakari Simelius. However, he did not want to diverge from the candidate proposed by the government majority and therefore appointed Sakari Simelius as Heiskanen’s successor in 1959. Kekkonen and Simelius were almost the same age, and had as squad leaders taken part in the same battles in the war of 1918. However, there was no atmosphere of trust between them. Sakari Simelius’ successor, Yrjö Keinonen, was given the task of reforming the military, which Kekkonen thought was too old-fashioned. The swift reformer was unable to gain the trust of the military and thus he resigned in the spring of 1969. President Kekkonen’s former aide-de-camp, Kaarlo Leinonen was chosen as Keinonen’s successor. The turn of the decade 1960/1970 was a time of social agitation. With his moderate ways, Kaarlo Leinonen was able to smooth over the crisis of confidence that had come about during Keinonen’s time. However, as mentioned, it was not until Lauri Sutela, that the relationship between the Head of State and the Chief of Defence was such as had been the aspiration ever since the war. Artikkeli on suomen kielellä ja luettavissa painetussa julkaisussa Tiede ja ase 65 (hinta 20 €). Julkaisun voi tilata Tiedekirjasta sähköpostitse [e-mail] tai verkkokaupasta www.tiedekirja.fi