Even before the book reached stores, Suomi's credibility as a scholar of Kekkonen was questioned on several counts. This first installment covers the years 1936-1944, during which Kekkonen started his long career in national politics. In September 1986, the first installment of his eight-volume biography of Kekkonen appeared just days after the president's death. The central figure in this debate has been the historian Juhani Suomi. Throughout this debate, the credibility of participating scholars, primary sources, and President Kekkonen himself has been questioned. This debate has been fueled not so much by theses and interpretations as by a struggle over and for credibility. In terms of its duration, impact on the historical profession, and resonance with the general public, this scholarly debate ranks among the most significant in the annals of historical scholarship in Finland. Over the last two decades, historians have reevaluated Kekkonen's presidency. He then held the office for the next quarter-century during which he faced the challenge of leading a small democracy in the shadow of the Soviet Union. In 1956, he won the Finnish presidency by the narrowest of margins. From his days as a student activist in the 1920s, Kekkonen's public career spanned seven decades. When Urho Kaleva Kekkonen resigned as president of the Republic of Finland in the fall of 1981, few Finns could remember a time when he was not a leader much less the leader of the country. Leskinen proclaims this Finnish twilight of the idols in the song's opening line: 'Kekkonen hiihti! Kekkonen kalasti! Nyt se on Kekkonen riisuttu alasti'.

Many of the truths and beliefs of a country comfortably isolated during the Cold War no longer applied. He sings about a country plunged into economic depression as well as caught between an integrating western Europe and a disintegrating eastern Europe. Like many of Leskinen's songs, this piece examines the Finnish condition. Such though was the case in 1991 when the Finnish singer Juhani 'Juice' Leskinen recorded the song 'Siniristilippumme'. SELDOM DOES A HISTORIOGRAPHICAL DEBATE enter the discourse of popular music.

Mauno koivisto pelko