finland in 1950s - before the reign of kekkonen
events around the world:
korea's war 1950-1953 → cold war escalates
stalin dies → khrushchev thaw 1953-1956
west germany joins to nato 1955
hungarian uprising 1956
presidency of paasikivi
paasikivi was re-elected as president 1950, kekkonen was his political opponent.
in 1950s our country had atmosphere of espionage, suspection and paranoia.
influence of ussr's kgb in finland lasted several decades.
death of stalin gave finland opportunity to join to nordic council and united nations → next year ussr gave porkkala naval base back
urho kekkonen
in practice, urho kekkonen was finland's prime minister throughout 1950s
urho kekkonen and his party - centre party of finland - built the supportive network with an eye on next elections.
centre party of finland gathered information from everywhere, which it utilized.
foreign policy of neutrality
urho kekkonen took it's goal to practice foreign policy of neutrality and said in his "pyjama pocket speech" (pyjamantaskupuhe) in 1952, that east isn't the only important foreign policy direction.
opening to west
finland's year of happiness 1952 - finland paid off all war debt, first finnish miss universe was chosen, armi kuusela, and finland hosted their first olympics