Ryti — Prime Minister on 2 December

Risto Ryti, 50, Governor of the Bank of Finland since 1923, is the most respected economist in the country. A liberal democrat without strict party allegiance, he has stabilised the Finnish markka through the 1920s and 1930s, negotiated the rescheduling of Finnish debt in London in 1931, and prepared the war economy since 1936.

When the Soviet invasion comes on 30 November 1939, the Aimo Cajander government (in power since 1937) is immediately discredited — it had underestimated the Soviet threat and neglected mobilisation in 1938-1939. On 1 December 1939 Cajander resigns. President Kyösti Kallio must appoint an emergency Prime Minister — one who will both conduct the war and negotiate the peace.

The choice falls on Ryti. Advantages: exceptional economic credibility to manage war finance (Finland must borrow 800 million markkaa from the United States in the coming months), political neutrality (acceptable to the Social Democrats of Väinö Tanner as much as to the conservatives of Kallio), international experience (Ryti speaks English, French and German and has contacts in London and Washington).

Ryti must form his ministerial team to lead the war.