Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg
Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg | |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Lauri Kristian Relander |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Carl Johan Ståhlberg 28 January 1865 National Progressive Party (ED) |
| Spouse(s) | Hedvig Irene Wåhlberg (desc.); Ester Hällström |
| Profession | Lawyer; Civil servant; Professor; Judge |
Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg (Finland Swedish:
Ståhlberg was an important figure in the drafting of Finland's republican constitution. As a jurist, he anchored the state in liberal democracy, guarded the fragile germ of the rule of law, and embarked on internal reforms. In implementing the form of government of 1919, Ståhlberg piloted an independent Finland towards acting in world politics; in presidential-led foreign and security policy, he relied on international law and diplomacy.[2]
It was only after the opening of private archives of President J. K. Paasikivi that it was realized that Ståhlberg had a very significant political role as an “éminence grise” until his death. He was asked for advice and opinions, which were also followed. Paasikivi highly valued Ståhlberg, and even described his predecessor in exaggerated words: “Ståhlberg was a man who never made mistakes”.[3]
Biography
Early life
Ståhlberg was born in
Ståhlberg and his family lived in
Career as academic and civil servant
Ståhlberg soon began a very long career as the presenter and planner of the
Ståhlberg served as secretary of the Diet of Finland's finance committee in 1891 before being appointed as an assistant professor of Administrative Law and Economics at the University of Helsinki in 1894. It was at this time that he began his active involvement in politics, becoming a member of the Young Finnish Party.
In 1893, Ståhlberg married his first wife, Hedvig Irene Wåhlberg (1869–1917). They had six children together: Kaarlo (1894–1977), Aino (1895–1974), Elli (1899–1986), Aune (1901–1967), Juho (1907–1973), and Kyllikki (1908–1994).
In 1898, Ståhlberg was appointed as Protocol Secretary for the Senate's civil affairs subdepartment. This was the second-highest
Career as politician
Ståhlberg participated in the Diet of Finland (1904–1905) as a member of the Estate of Burgesses. In 1905, he was appointed as a Senator in the newly formed Senate of Leo Mechelin, with responsibility for trade and industry. One of the most important tasks facing the new constitutionalist Senate was to consider proposals for the reform of the Diet of Finland and, although initially sceptical about some of the proposal, Ståhlberg played a role in the drafting of the legislation which created the Parliament of Finland. Ståhlberg resigned from the Senate in 1907, due to Parliament's rejection of a Senate bill on the prohibition of alcohol.
The following year he resumed his academic career and was appointed as Professor of Administrative Law at the University of Helsinki, a position he retained until 1918. During his time in that post he wrote his most influential piece of work, "Finnish administrative law, volumes I & II." He also remained active in politics, being elected to the central committee of the Young Finnish Party. In 1908, Ståhlberg was elected as a member of Parliament for the Southern Häme constituency, which he represented until 1910. He also served as a member for the Southern Oulu constituency from 1913 until his appointment as President of the Supreme Administrative Court in 1918. Ståhlberg also served as
After the
The new form of government approved by the council was largely based on the 1772
Architect of the Finnish constitution
After Finland gained its independence in December 1917, the Constitutional Committee drafted new proposals for a form of government of an independent Republic of Finland. As chairman of the council, Ståhlberg was involved in the drafting and re-drafting of constitutional proposals during 1918, when the impact of the
First President of Finland
Ståhlberg emerged as a candidate for president, with the support of the newly formed
Ståhlberg was inaugurated as the first President of the Republic on the following day, and reluctantly moved out of his home in Helsinki to take up residence in the Presidential Palace.[6]
Ståhlberg had been a widower since 1917, but in 1920, as president, he married his second wife,
As the first President of the Republic, Ståhlberg had to form various presidential precedents and interpretations of how the office of President should be conducted. His term in office was also marked by a succession of short-lived governments. During his time as president, Ståhlberg nominated and appointed eight governments. These were mostly coalitions of the Agrarians and the National Progressive, National Coalition and Swedish People's parties, although Ståhlberg also appointed two caretaker governments. Importantly, Ståhlberg generally supported all the governments that he nominated, although he also sometimes disagreed with them. He forced Kyösti Kallio's first government to resign in January 1924, when he demanded early elections to restore the full membership of Parliament – 200 deputies – and Kallio disagreed. The Parliament had lacked 27 deputies since August 1923, when the Communist deputies had been arrested on suspicions of treason.[9]
Ståhlberg supported moderate social and economic reforms to make even the former Reds accept the democratic republic. He pardoned most of the Red prisoners, despite the strong criticism that this aroused from many right-wing Finns, especially the White veterans of the Civil War and several senior army officers. He signed into law bills that gave the trade unions an equal power with the employers' organizations to negotiate labour contracts, a bill to improve the public care for the poor, and the Lex Kallio law which distributed land from the wealthy landowners to the former tenant farmers and other landless rural people.[10]
In foreign policy Ståhlberg was markedly reserved towards Sweden, largely as a consequence of the
Post-presidential life
Ståhlberg did not seek re-election in 1925, finding his difficult term of office a great strain. He also believed that the right-wing and the monarchists would become more reconciled to the republic if he stepped down. According to the longtime late Agrarian and Centrist politician Johannes Virolainen, he believed that the incumbent president was too much favoured over the other candidates while standing for re-election.[11]
Ståhlberg did not appreciate his presidential successor, Lauri Kristian Relander, at all, because Relander was the almost complete opposite of Ståhlberg. He would have preferred to have seen Risto Ryti as his successor; but when Relander was elected, he muttered:
May those take care of him who have hired him for it.[12]
He was offered the post of Chancellor of the University of Helsinki, but declined it, instead becoming a member of the government's Law Drafting Committee. He also served as a National Progressive member of Parliament again, as a member for the Uusimaa constituency from 1930 to 1933.
In 1930, activists from the right-wing Lapua Movement kidnapped him and his wife, attempting to send them to the Soviet Union, but the incident merely hastened the Lapua Movement's demise.
Ståhlberg was a National Progressive Party candidate in the 1931 Presidential election, eventually losing to Pehr Evind Svinhufvud by only two votes in the third ballot. He was also a candidate in the 1937 election, eventually finishing third.
In 1946, Ståhlberg retired and became the legal adviser of President
Among Finnish Presidents, Ståhlberg has retained a remarkably impeccable reputation. He is generally regarded as a moral and principled defender of democracy and of the rule of law, and as the father of the Finnish Constitution. His decision to voluntarily give up the presidency is also generally speaking admired as a sign that he was not a power-hungry career politician.[15]
Honours
Awards and decorations
Finland : Grand Cross, with Collar, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (25 July 1919)[16]- Finland : Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (16 May 1919)[16]
Latvia : Order of the Three Stars, 1st Class (15 May 1926)[17]
Poland Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta[18]
Estonia : Cross of Liberty III/1 (14 December 1920)[19]
References
- ^ "Edustajamatrikkeli". Eduskunta. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012.
- ^ Mononen, Juha (2 February 2009). "War or Peace for Finland? Neoclassical Realist Case Study of Finnish Foreign Policy in the Context of the Anti-Bolshevik Intervention in Russia 1918–1920". University of Tampere. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ISBN 978-1433107139.
- ^ a b Tyynilä, Markku (7 June 2000). "Ståhlberg, Kaarlo Juho (1865–1952)". Kansallisbiografia.fi (in Finnish). Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
- ^ see, for example, Sakari Virkkunen, "Finland's Presidents I," Helsinki, 1994
- ^ see, for example, Virkkunen 1994
- ^ Olavi Jouslehto ja Jaakko Okker: Tamminiemestä Mäntyniemeen, p. 24. Porvoo-Helsinki: WSOY, 2000. (in Finnish)
- ^ Juhani Suomi: Vuoroin vieraissa, p. 9–28. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 2002. ISBN 951-746-386-3. (in Finnish)
- ^ Sakari Virkkunen, "The Finnish Presidents I: Ståhlberg – Relander – Svinhufvud" / Suomen presidentit I: Ståhlberg – Relander – Svinhufvud, Helsinki: Otava Publications Ltd., 1994
- ^ see, for example, Virkkunen, "The Finnish Presidents I"; "Forum IV: Turning Points of the Finnish History from the Autonomy to the Present" / Forum IV. Suomen historian käännekohtia autonomiasta nykypäivään (an upper-secondary school history textbook), Helsinki: Otava, 2005–2006
- ^ see Virolainen, "The Last Electoral Term" / Viimeinen vaalikausi, published in Finland in 1991
- ^ Olavi Jouslehto & Jaakko Okker: Tamminiemestä Mäntyniemeen, p. 33. Porvoo-Helsinki: WSOY, 2000. (in Finnish)
- ^ Jouslehto & Okker, p. 88–90. (in Finnish)
- ^ see, for example, "J.K. Paasikivi's Diaries I-II" / J.K. Paasikiven päiväkirjat I-II, edited and published in Finland around 1985–86
- ^ see, for example, "The Republic's Presidents 1919–1931" / Tasavallan presidentit 1919–1931, published in Finland in 1993–94
- ^ ISBN 978-951-37-7005-1.
- OCLC 927071142.
- OCLC 29172397.
- ^ "Vabaduse Risti diplomid" (PDF) (in Estonian). Vabadussõja Ajaloo Seltsist. p. 1. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
External links
- Newspaper clippings about Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
- K. J. Ståhlberg in The Presidents of Finland
- "Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg". Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland. urn:NBN:fi:sls-4133-1416928956739.
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