Editing Johannes Virolainen (section)

{{Short description|Prime minister of Finland from 1964 to 1966}}
{{Infobox Prime Minister 
|honorific-prefix = [[Valtioneuvos]]
|name          = Johannes Virolainen
|image         = JohannesVirolainen1975.jpg
|caption       = Virolainen in 1975.
|order         = 30th [[Prime Minister of Finland]]
|term_start    = 12 September 1964
|term_end      = 27 May 1966
|predecessor   = [[Reino Ragnar Lehto|Reino R. Lehto]]
|successor     = [[Rafael Paasio]]
|president     = [[Urho Kekkonen]]
|deputy        = [[Ahti Karjalainen]]
|office2       = [[Speaker of the Parliament of Finland|Speaker of the Finnish Parliament]]
|term_start2   = 5 June 1979
|term_end2     = 25 March 1983
|predecessor2  = [[Ahti Pekkala]]
|successor2    = [[Erkki Pystynen]]
|term_start3   = 3 June 1966
|term_end3     = 26 March 1968
|predecessor3  = Rafael Paasio
|successor3    = [[V. J. Sukselainen]]
|office4       = [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Finland)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]]
|term_start4   = 29 August 1958
|term_end4     = 4 December 1958
|primeminister4 = [[Karl-August Fagerholm]]
|predecessor4  = [[Paavo Hynninen]]
|successor4    = Karl-August Fagerholm
|term_start5   = 27 May 1957
|term_end5     = 29 November 1957
|primeminister5 = V. J. Sukselainen 
|predecessor5  = [[Ralf Törngren]]
|successor5    = Paavo Hynninen
|term_start6   = 20 October 1954
|term_end6     = 3 March 1956
|primeminister6 = Urho Kekkonen
|predecessor6   = Urho Kekkonen
|successor6    = Ralf Törngren
|office7       = [[Deputy Prime Minister of Finland]]
|term_start7= 15 May 1977
|term_end7    = 26 May 1979
|primeminister7 = [[Kalevi Sorsa]]
|predecessor7  = Ahti Karjalainen
|successor7    = [[Eino Uusitalo]]
|term_start8   = 22 March 1968
|term_end8     = 14 May 1970
|primeminister8 = [[Mauno Koivisto]]
|predecessor8   = [[Reino Oittinen]]
|successor8    = [[Päiviö Hetemäki]]
|term_start9    = 13 April 1962
|term_end9    = 18 December 1963
|primeminister9 = Ahti Karjalainen
|predecessor9   = [[Eemil Luukka]]
|successor9    = [[Aarne Nuorvala]]
|term_start10   = 29 August 1958
|term_end10     = 4 December 1958
|primeminister10 = Karl-August Fagerholm
|predecessor10  = [[Tyyne Leivo-Larsson]]
|successor10    = [[Onni Hiltunen]]
|term_start11  = 31 October 1957
|term_end11    = 29 November 1957
|primeminister11 = V. J. Sukselainen 
|predecessor11 = [[Aarre Simonen]]
|successor11  =  Reino Oittinen
|term_start12  = 11 January 1957
|term_end12    = 27 May 1957
|primeminister12 = Karl-August Fagerholm
|predecessor12= ''Position established''
|successor12  = [[Nils Meinander]]
|office13    = [[Minister of Education (Finland)|Minister of Education]]
|term_start13= 3 March 1956
|term_end13   = 27 May 1957
|primeminister13= Karl-August Fagerholm
|predecessor13  = [[Kerttu Saalasti]]
|successor13   = Kerttu Saalasti
|term_start14  = 5 May 1954
|term_end14    = 20 October 1954
|primeminister14 = Ralf Törngren
|predecessor14 = [[Arvo Salminen]]
|successor14   = Kerttu Saalasti
|term_start15  = 9 July 1953
|term_end15    = 17 November 1953
|primeminister15 = Urho Kekkonen
|predecessor15  = Reino Oittinen
|successor15   = Arvo Salminen
|birth_date    = {{birth date|1914|1|31|df=y}}
|birth_place   = [[Vyborg District|Viipurin maalaiskunta]], Finland
|death_date    = {{Death date and age|2000|12|11|1914|1|31|df=y}}
|death_place   = [[Lohja]], [[Finland]]
|nationality   = [[Finnish people|Finnish]]
|party         = [[Centre Party (Finland)|Agrarian League/Centre Party]]
|spouse        = Kaarina Virolainen<br/>Kyllikki Virolainen (1981–2000)
|profession    = 
|nicknames     = 
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| office     = [[Minister of Agriculture and Forestry (Finland)|Minister of Agriculture]]
|term_start  = 29 September 1976
|term_end    = 26 May 1979
|primeminister= [[Martti Miettunen]] <br> Kalevi Sorsa
|predecessor= Heimo Linna
|successor = [[Taisto Tähkämaa]]
|term_start2  = 14 July 1961
|term_end2   = 18 December 1963
|primeminister2 = Martti Miettunen <br> Ahti Karjalainen
|predecessor2  = Juho Jaakkola
|successor2  = Samuli Suomela
|office3 = [[Minister of Finance (Finland)|Minister of Finance]]
|term_start3 = 4 September 1972
|term_end3 = 13 June 1975
|primeminister3 = Kalevi Sorsa
|predecessor3= Mauno Koivisto 
|successor3= Heikki Tuominen
}}
'''Johannes Virolainen''' ({{IPA|fi|ˈjohɑnːes ˈʋirolɑi̯nen|pron|Fi-Johannes_Virolainen.ogg}}; 31 January 1914 – 11 December 2000) was a Finnish politician and who served as 30th [[Prime Minister of Finland]], helped inhabitants of Karelia, and opposed the use of alcohol.

Virolainen was born near [[Vyborg|Viipuri]]. After the [[Continuation War]] Virolainen moved to [[Lohja]], but he remained one of the leaders of the evacuated [[Karelia]]ns, and never gave up the hope that [[Soviet Union]] and later [[Russia]] would return Finnish Karelia to Finland. After [[World War II]] Virolainen became the first president of the Maaseudun Nuorten Liitto later known as [[Finnish Centre Youth]], which has been educating dozens of ministers and hundreds of members of the Finnish Parliament.<ref>Vanhanen, Tatu. Vihreä Nuoriso, Nuoren Keskustan Liitto r.y., 1995, p. 79.</ref>

He was also famous as a teetotaller, saying that the only circumstance where he would countenance downing a toast would be if Karelia was ceded back to Finland. He was fond of repeating the line, and it has been claimed that he said it to, among others, [[Nikita Khrushchev]] and [[Anastas Mikoyan]] on the Soviet side, to fend off needling by them for lacking the Soviet style of social graces.

A member of the Agrarian League (later the [[Centre Party of Finland|Centre Party]]), Virolainen was a Member of [[Parliament of Finland|Parliament]] 1945–1983 and 1987–1991.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.eduskunta.fi/FI/kansanedustajat/Sivut/231.aspx |title=Edustajamatrikkeli |publisher=Eduskunta|language=fi}}</ref>

He had a long ministerial career, serving as Assistant Minister of the Interior 1950–1951; Minister at the Council of State Chancellery 1951, and 1956–1957; Minister of Education 1953, 1954, 1956–1957, and 1968–1970; [[Minister for Foreign Affairs (Finland)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] 1954–1956, 1957, and 1958;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://formin.finland.fi/public/?contentid=41366&contentlan=1&culture=fi-FI |title=Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland - Ministers of Foreign Affairs |publisher=Valtioneuvosto.fi |access-date=30 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716073918/http://formin.finland.fi/public/?contentid=41366&contentlan=1&culture=fi-FI |archive-date=16 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Deputy Prime Minister of Finland|Deputy Prime Minister]] 1957, 1958, 1962–1963, 1968–1970, and 1977–1979; Minister of Agriculture 1961–1963; [[Minister of Finance (Finland)|Minister of Finance]] 1972–1975;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://valtioneuvosto.fi/tietoa/historiaa/hallitukset-ja-ministerit/raportti/-/r/v9l/13 |title=Council of State - Ministers of Finance|publisher=Valtioneuvosto.fi |access-date=12 January 2018 }}</ref> and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry 1976–1979.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.valtioneuvosto.fi/hakemisto/ministerikortisto/ministeritiedot.asp?nro=430 |title=Ministerikortisto |publisher=Valtioneuvosto |language=fi |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503122031/http://www.valtioneuvosto.fi/hakemisto/ministerikortisto/ministeritiedot.asp?nro=430 |archive-date=2009-05-03 }}</ref>

Virolainen was [[Prime Minister of Finland|Prime Minister]] from 1964–1966, presiding over a coalition government comprising the [[Centre Party of Finland|Centre Party]], [[National Coalition (Finland)|National Coalition Party]], [[Swedish People's Party (Finland)|Swedish People's Party]], and Finnish People's Party. He also served as Speaker of the Parliament from 1966–1968 and 1979–1983. Virolainen is considered one of the strongest Centre Party leaders in the post-war era, second only to [[Urho Kekkonen]].

Virolainen had a variable, often tense relationship with President Kekkonen, who considered him an unreliable, too frequently opinion-changing politician.<ref>Juhani Suomi, "A Ski Trail Being Snowed In:  Urho Kekkonen 1976-1981" / Umpeutuva latu.  Urho Kekkonen 1976-1981, Helsinki:  Otava Publishing Ltd., 2000</ref> Virolainen himself claimed that the two basic reasons for their tense relationship were that he had never been a member of the right-wing, nationalist [[Academic Karelia Society]] (Kekkonen had, until 1932), and that he was a teetotaller (Kekkonen drank and at times smoked).<ref>Johannes Virolainen, "The Last Electoral Term" / Viimeinen vaalikausi, Helsinki:  Otava Publishing Ltd., 1991</ref>  Moreover, Kekkonen was unconvinced that Virolainen always supported his official foreign policy toward the Soviet Union.  In June 1979, he publicly rebuked Virolainen, who was then Speaker of Parliament, for "bearing a false testimony" about Finland's foreign policy, and for harming Finland's international relations.  Shortly before this harsh accusation, Virolainen had suggested in an interview by the [[Suomen Kuvalehti]] magazine that the National Coalition Party had remained in the opposition despite its major victory in the 1979 parliamentary elections because of "general reasons" or foreign policy.<ref>Suomi 2000;  Pekka Hyvärinen, "Finland's Man:  Urho Kekkonen's Life" / Suomen mies.  Urho Kekkosen elämä, Helsinki:  Werner Söderström Publishing Ltd., 2000</ref><ref>Seppo Zetterberg et al., eds., "A Small Giant of the Finnish History" / Suomen historian pikkujättiläinen, Helsinki:  Werner Söderström Publishing Ltd., 2003</ref>

[[File:Virolaisen hauta, Lohja.jpg|thumb|Grave of Johannes Virolainen and his wife Kyllikki Virolainen in [[Lohja]], Finland.]]
After Kekkonen resigned in October 1981, Virolainen became the Centre Party's presidential candidate, but he was handily defeated in the 1982 presidential elections by the Social Democratic candidate, [[Mauno Koivisto]].  In the 1983 parliamentary elections, Virolainen was one of the major-party deputies to lose their seats because of allegations that he had illegally received the parliamentary daily allowance for commuting between Helsinki and his official hometown.  Determined to finish his parliamentary career in style, he was re-elected to Parliament in the 1987 parliamentary elections.  During his last electoral term, Virolainen supported constitutional amendment proposals that reduced the President's power.<ref>Zetterberg et al., eds., 2003;  Virolainen 1991</ref>

During his nine-year retirement from Parliament, Virolainen still actively followed the Finnish political affairs and sometimes gave interviews on current topics (the Finnish broadcasting corporation YLE "Living Archives" / Elävä arkisto, search words:  "Johannes Virolainen").  He also wrote some volumes of political memoirs, including "A Defence of Politics" (Politiikan puolustus), "From the Path" (Polun varrelta), and "The Pictures Move" (Kuvat kulkevat).