Kyösti Kallio

Gustaf Kalliokangas was born in Ylivieska on April 10, 1873. A prominent farmer and leader of the Agrarian League, Kallio served four terms as Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament, enacting the historic 1922 Lex Kallio land reform that gave land to over 100,000 tenant farmers.

Elected President in 1937, Kallio was the moral rock of the nation during the brutal 105 days of the Soviet Winter War (1939–1940). Deeply heartbroken by the harsh Moscow Peace Treaty that ceded Karelia, he signed with trembling hands. On December 19, 1940, while inspecting an army guard of honor at Helsinki Railway Station following his resignation, he suffered a fatal heart attack, dying in the arms of Marshal Mannerheim.