Finnish foreign minister who dismissed Stalin's demands as a bluff and overruled Mannerheim's counsel to compromise
"Forget that the Soviet Union is a great power": Erkko's instruction to Paasikivi before the 1939 Moscow negotiations.
A press baron who built Helsingin Sanomat into the Nordics' largest daily, Erkko became foreign minister in December 1938 and seized full control of the Soviet negotiations. An unyielding hardliner, he instructed Paasikivi departing for Moscow to "forget that the Soviet Union is a great power," dismissed Stalin's territorial demands as a bluff, and overruled Marshal Mannerheim's advice to compromise. With the Erkko-owned Helsingin Sanomat steering public opinion against concessions, the talks collapsed; after the Winter War began, Paasikivi called it "Erkko's war."
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1918White Guard officer, Finnish Civil War
- 1919–1927Foreign Ministry postings in Paris, Tallinn, London
- 1927–1938Editor-in-Chief, Helsingin Sanomat; CEO, Sanoma Oy
- 1932Minister without portfolio, Deputy Interior Minister (Sunila II)
- 1933–1936MP, National Progressive Party
- 1938–1939Minister of Foreign Affairs (Cajander III)
- 1939–1940Chargé d'affaires, Stockholm
- 1945–1965CEO and Chairman, Sanoma Oy
Related historical events
Post-war press magnate and international press work
After the war, Erkko again devoted himself to journalism and business. In 1943 he took part in founding the Finnish-American Association, serving as its first chairman from 1943 to 1946; the initiative, which immediately drew German displeasure, looked to the future and showed how much he valued personal ties to the United States. In the post-war years he worked to build Helsingin Sanomat into a newspaper of international standard. From the 1930s he had widened its foreign news network through contracts with large news agencies and papers, and the paper sent correspondents abroad. The expertise thus accumulated was placed at the service not only of Helsingin Sanomat but also of the Finnish News Agency (Suomen Tietotoimisto) and the country's newspaper publishers' organisations, and he set up the photo agency Lehtikuva. As the country's largest newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat became a pathbreaker for the Finnish press. Erkko also expanded his activity in industry and finance: at Kansallis-Osake-Pankki he continued work begun by his father and eventually became chairman of its supervisory board, and he held positions of trust in insurance, shipping and aviation. His press activity was not confined to Finland. He was a founding member of the International Press Institute (IPI) in 1951, later served on its board and as its chairman from 1954 to 1956, and became an honorary member in 1963. He had earlier been invited to join the American National Press Club.