Foundation

The Finnish-American Club 1932 was founded in hotel Kämp in Helsinki on February 29th in 1932. There were all together 43 persons participating in founding luncheon meeting. The original name was Finnish-American Society.

A committee was elected to prepare Statutes and a tentative program. Chairman was Consul General Solitander. Other committee members were: Professor J.J. Sederholm, Counsellor v. Julin, Minister Brodin, Consul Ernst Krogius, Mr. E.A. Thorson and Mr. Charles Jensen. The statutes got filed on March 18th, 1933.

Highlights

The necessity of founding a Finnish-American society was initially discussed in a small circle. Its general figures were the American Minister Edward E. Brodie, Consul-Generals Axel Solitander and A.J. Jalkanen, the journalist Yrjö Rauanheimo and director Charles Jensen. They invited ‘those interested’ to a lunch at Hotel Kämp on February 29, 1932 to discuss founding a society. A total 43 persons attended to lunch and they mostly represented Finnish economic life. Minister Brodie wished the participants welcome and set forth the tasks of the new society: to develop trade and to exchange scientific and cultural experience between the countries. Those presented unanimously supported the initiative and the meeting decided to found an association, which was called the Finnish American Society.

The society began activities immediately after it had been founded and followed the policy line approved at the inaugural meeting. Except during the summer, lunch meetings were held once a month.
The first function that wives and even friends could attend was a ball arranged in the Torni Hotel on 23rd May, 1933.

Until 1938, the Society was chaired by Consul-General Axel Solitander. It was regular practice to elect the US legate Vice-Chairman. Throughout the decade Mr. Charles Jensen was Secretarycum-Treasurer. At the 1938 Annual General Meeting Axel Solitander asked to be excused from his task.
According to the minutes of the meetings no chairman was elected in 1939. Instead, two Honorary Vice-Chairmen were elected. They were Minister Schoenfeldt and Finland’s envoy to the US at the time, Minister H. Procopé.
Activities in the 1930’s revolved very much around the Secretary. The Chairman’s task was primarily to preside at meetings.

From the very beginning society’s activities seemed to have approximately the same course that is followed to this very day. Most important were the monthly luncheons and the speeches made there. The venue for the meetings was Hotel Kämp and Friday was the usual day. Very often Helsinki papers reported the meetings and the speeches made at them.
A Thanksgiving Day luncheon was arranged for the first time on November 28th 1935. Several non-members were invited too but ladies were not. In later years all adult members of the family received an invitation, though. The Grand Hotel was the venue for this luncheon until the Winter War (1939-1940).
During its first decade the society also started working towards organizing student exchanges between Finland and the United States.
The highlight of the Society’s activities was the annual reception given by the US envoy. During a US Navy visit in 1937, special tours of the ships were arranged for the Society’s members and their families.

All in all during these years the Society seems to have been very active. 40-50 people, about 80% of the members, regularly attending the monthly meetings. Finnish-American Society was the only forum, apart from official channels, for maintaining Fenno-American relationships. In 1939, the tensed situation in Europe began to influence the Society’s activities. The Thanksgiving Day luncheon was arranged a few days before the Winter War broke out November 30th. The official activity of the Society ceased after that.

The activities were revived in Hotel Kämp on April 25th 1945. However, during the war another Finnish-American society had been founded with exactly the same name in English. Since the society founded in 1932 was dormant, the fact that they both bore the same name went unnoticed. Thus a meeting that took place on June 7th approved a new name for the society: the Finnish-American Club founded 1932.
No US Legation staff attended the first meetings of the club. However, contacts with the Legation were maintained. The return of peace was the factor that permitted the Legation staff to resume participation in activities. Things had returned to normal for the Club and relations with the US mission were in order. The Thanksgiving Day luncheon was arranged as usual in November. Nearly 80 persons attended.
By 1946, the Club’s activities had attained a similar level to that of the pre-war period. Meetings were held monthly and in conjunction with Annual General Meeting an annual gala ball was also organized and the traditional Thanksgiving Day luncheons were continued. The venue for the monthly luncheons was Hotel Kämp until 1947, when it was changed to Hotel Seurahuone, and from the beginning of 1949 to Restaurant Royal. Crayfish parties began in 1948 and have since become a tradition. The first parties were held at the yachting club Esbo Segelfärening’s clubhouse on Pentala Island. During these years, unusually many new members were accepted. The membership total stood at 89 in 1950. According to the new Statutes, written applications for membership had to be endorsed by two existing members before being sent to the Board. A veto by two Board members was enough to blackball an applicant. Total membership limit was one hundred. The US envoy no longer held the position of Vice-Chairman or Board member as in the 30’s. Instead, since 1949 the practice has been to have the Commercial Counsellor or Attaché as an extraordinary member of the Board. This practice is still followed.
At that time, the Club’s activities seem to have been centered largely around either Chairman or the Secretary.
1954 was in many ways a significant year in the Club’s history. Many events worth recalling took place then. In 1954, Hotel Helsinki became the venue for the monthly luncheons and it remained Club’s regular meeting place. Together with the Finnish-American Society and Ford Motor Company, The Club arranged a meeting at the Helsinki School of Economics on July 9th with Henry Ford II as guest speaker. The first post-war courtesy visit by the US Navy took place in 1954 and a special reception was arranged for Club members on board the USS Glennon. Also in 1954, the United States and Finland upgraded their diplomatic missions to embassy status. Jack McFall became the first US Ambassador in Finland. The Club was very active in the following years as well. The 1955 crayfish party holds a prominent place in the Club’s history, because 40 American congressmen on a visit to Finland attended. The festivities were held on the fortress island Suomenlinna on premises belonging to the sailing club “Merenkävijät”. The guests enjoyed a sauna and swam in the open sea.
The club celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1957. The celebrations culminated in a gala function at Hotel Helsinki on February 28th. The US ambassador and several other Embassy officials attended the gala.
In 1957 at the instigation of Chairman Rydman and on the basis of a motion introduced by Aage Ylander a resolution was adapted at the Annual General meeting that the number of terms of office a board member could serve be limited. In accordance with this resolution Magnus Rydman resigned as Chairman the following year but both were declared Honorary Members of the Club. After the retirement activities quietened down for a number of years. For several years there were only a couple of monthly luncheon meetings but the other events were held normally. However, activities livened up again in the Sixties.
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963 shocked the whole world. The club decided to cancel the Thanksgiving Day lunch. That decision was taken a little hastily without consulting the American Ambassador: president Kennedy has already written his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, and it was read at functions arranged all over the world. The US ambassador sent the President’s proclamation to the Club.
On several occasions, the Club welcomed prominent American visitors to Finland, usually by arranging luncheons in their honor. In 1964 General Gabriel P. Disosway, Commander-in-Chief of the US Air Force Europe visited the club.
The first American astronaut to orbit the Earth, Colonel John H. Glenn, visited Finland in May 1966. Colonel and Mrs. Glenn and their 18-years-old daughter attended a dinner in his honor arranged in Hotel Helsinki. Summer programs also included US Navy courtesy visits, which took place most years in the Sixties.
By the time Seventies arrived, activities had already become well founded in tradition. It also appears that the members were very busy in other respects as well: the attendance at the monthly luncheons were nothing like in the golden days of the Fifties or Sixties. Special luncheons were held in the newly-completed Inter-Continental and Hesperia hotels. A luncheon to mark the Club’s 40th anniversary was held in a rather festive spirit in Hotel Helsinki on February 28th, 1972. Several people received the Honorary Membership status this year.
The club had secretary difficulties in 1973 and 1974. There was no regular secretary, and thus a temporary secretary had to be found for each meeting. This also placed obstacles in the way of preparing for meetings. From the fall of 1977 onwards, the Club’s luncheon meetings were changed from Thursday to Wednesday, because they clashed with the Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce meetings and the bodies had many common members.
Attendance at functions arranged by the Club had started falling off in the early Seventies and by 1978 had fallen to a level that prompted the Board to take specific actions to boost them again. One of the means was to increase the active membership to 150 from 100. It was also decided to begin sending a bulletin on activities. In January 1980, a questionnaire was sent to all members in order to find out what kind of activities the members were interested in. These measurements somewhat improved attendance at the monthly meetings. By contrast, attendance at the April Fool’s Day party continued to drop year after year. In 1979 the party was cancelled. Attendance at the crayfish parties also remained low throughout the decade. The 1978 Annual report contained the following comment: “the enthusiasm of earlier years had not been as marked during the report years”.

The past two decades have been a time of change for the Finnish-American Club 1932. The social environment has changed radically: Finland as a nation has opened up and frequent and unhindered contact with the world beyond borders has become a matter of course. In 1990, FAC1932 took a long-waited decision to accept women members.
The economic slump of the early 1990s in Finland affected the club but so did the upswing in the economy after that: the club transformed into part of an international community. The club has become an important forum for interaction between senior management from the top echelons of society and younger executives.

List of Chairmen since 1932

1932-1939 Axel Solitander
1945-1948 Magnus Rydman
1949-1951 Heikki Herlin
1952-1958 Magnus Rydman
1959-1961 Knut Sundman
1962 Gunnar Zilliacus
1963-1965 Olle Herold
1966 Pellervo Saarinen
1967-1968 Harry Berner
1969-1970 Kalle Anttila
1971-1973 Walter Wiklund
1974-1975 Kaj Lindblad
1976 Tage Blåfield
1977 Aarne Juurinen
1978 Harri Palojärvi
1979 Juhani Ahdekivi
1980 Martti Immonen
1981 Erkki Rauhio
1982 Jouko Brade
1983 Paavo Sinivuori
1984 Felix Björklund
1985 Kari Mannola
1986 Erkki Karmila
1987 Hannu Kärävä
1988 Pekka Roine
1989 Peter Fagerman
1990 Harry Hedman
1991 Joel Nermes
1992 Olof Jurva
1993 Carl-Erik Falkenius
1994-1997 Stephen McClintock
1998-2001 Marcus Herold
2002 Harry Hedman
2003-2005 Teppo Rantanen
2006 Matti Copeland
2007 Kari Heliö
2008-2009 Vesa Vihavainen
2010 Markku Keinonen