Rudolf Holsti

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Eino Rudolf Woldemar Holsti (1881 – 4 August 1945) was a Finnish politician, journalist and a diplomat. He was the Foreign Minister of Finland 1919–1922 and 1936–1938 and a member of the Finnish Parliament 1913–1918 representing the Young Finnish Party (Nuorsuomalainen Puolue). Holsti represented Finland in the League of Nations. He was also a republican (opposing the then ongoing movement for monarchy in Finland). A firm supporter of democracy, he openly criticized Adolf Hitler at the outbreak of war. Holsti worked for newspapers in Hämeenlinna, Lahti and Helsinki together with his friend and school companion Joel Lehtonen. The friendship ended abruptly when Holsti recognized himself as the satirically portrayed and fictive politician Rolf Idell in Lehto's book Sorron lapset (1924).

Later in life, Dr. Holsti taught at Stanford, after he moved to America with his two sons: Kalevi and Olavi Holsti (both respected political scientists in their own right). He maintained a healthy correspondence with president Herbert Hoover, and the prime minister and president of Finland. He died on August 3, 1945 at Palo Alto Hospital while undergoing surgery to repair a hernia. His wife Liisa died of tuberculosis on July 22, 1951.

[edit] Source

• Pietiäinen, Jukka-Pekka; Rudolf Holsti, Lehtimies, tiedemies, poliitikko 1881- 1919, Weilin+Göös 1986 .