Väinö Olavi Leskinen (8 March 1917, in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

– 8 March 1972, in

) was a Finnish politician, minister and a member of the parliament from

Social Democratic Party of Finland The Social Democratic Party of Finland ( , SDP, nicknamed: ''demarit'' in Finnish; , SD) is a social democratic political party in Finland. It is the third-largest party in the Parliament of Finland with a total of 43 seats. Founded in 1899 as ...

. He is perceived as one of the major Finnish social democratic politicians of the 1950s and 1960s.

Sports career and personal life

Before his political career Leskinen was a successful swimmer in the association of Helsinki Workers' Swimmers. He won the 200 and 400 meter breaststroke events at the 1937 Workers' Olympiad in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. Leskinen was later the Secretary General of the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation 1940-1943 and the chairman 1951–1955. Leskinen fought in the

Winter Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...

and

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

s. He was wounded in 1941. His military denomination was a Major. Leskinen was married to the Olympic swimmer Margit Leskinen.

Political career

Leskinen was a key member in the union of brother's in arms movement which operated among the Social Democrats after the war. The group was called 'asevelisosialistit' and it defeated the Communists in the fight for a majority in several left-wing organizations. In the 1950s the fragmented Social Democratic Party was led by

Väinö Tanner Väinö Alfred Tanner (; 12 March 1881 – 19 April 1966; surname until 1895 ''Thomasson'') was a leading figure in the Social Democratic Party of Finland, and a pioneer and leader of the cooperative movement in Finland. He was Prime Minist ...

as figurehead while Leskinen was considered as one of the most important leaders. He was discredited by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union because of his Western-oriented political views. Leskinen sought to offset the relations with the Soviet Union following the defeat of SDP in the 1962 parliamentary election. He also tried to increase cooperation among the Left in Finland. Leskinen led the negotiations for the founding of Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions. In 1966, Leskinen visited Moscow in an effort to re-establish relations with the Communist Party of Soviet Union. Leskinen and SDP supported

Urho Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as Prime Minister ...

in the 1968 presidential election. Leskinen was a member of the parliament from 1945 to 1947 and 1947–1969. His career as minister is divided into two parts. During the 1940s and 1950s, he was in the cabinet as a right-wing representative of SDP. After the reconciliation with the Soviet Union, he was a closer associate of Urho Kekkonen. *Minister for Social Affairs 1952–1953 *

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

1954–1955 *Minister for Social Welfare 1958–1959 *Minister of Trade and Industry 1968–1970 *Minister of Foreign Affairs 1970–1971 Väinö Leskinen died of a heart attack on his 55th birthday while skiing near

Lauttasaari Lauttasaari (; ) is an island in Helsinki, Finland, about west of the city centre. Together with some surrounding unpopulated small islands, Lauttasaari is also a district of Helsinki. With 23,226 residents as of 2017, the island is Finland's se ...

in Helsinki.

References

External links

* 1917 births 1972 deaths Politicians from Helsinki Politicians from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians Ministers of social affairs of Finland Ministers of the interior of Finland Ministers of trade and industry of Finland Ministers for foreign affairs of Finland Members of the Parliament of Finland (1945–1948) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1951–1954) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1954–1958) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1958–1962) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1962–1966) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1966–1970) Finnish male breaststroke swimmers Finnish military personnel of World War II 20th-century Finnish sportsmen {{SocialDemocraticPartyFinland-politician-stub