J.K. Paasikivi

Juho Kusti Paasikivi (27 November 1870 – 14 December 1956) was a Finnish politician who served as the president of Finland from 1946 to 1956. Representing the Finnish Party until its dissolution in 1918 and then the National Coalition Party, he previously served as senator, member of parliament (1907–1909, 1910–1914), envoy to Stockholm (1936–1939) and Moscow (1940–1941), and Prime Minister of Finland (1918 and 1944–1946). He also held several other positions of trust, and was an influential figure in Finnish economics and politics for over fifty years. Paasikivi has been remembered as a tenacious and temperamental character, but also as a realistic peace negotiator and a main architect of Finland's foreign policy after the Second World War; for example, the Paasikivi Society (Paasikivi-seura), founded in 1958 under the leadership of Jan-Magnus Jansson, sought to nurture Paasikivi's political legacy, especially during the Cold War, by promoting 'fact-based foreign policy thinking' in Finland and making Finland's policy of neutrality internationally known. Paasikivi was also the last Finnish president born in the 19th century and the "lowest" in terms of social origin.