World leaders' note pads give psychological insight into CSCE conference 30 years ago

Mikko Pyhälä preserved notes scribbled during 1975 Helsinki summit

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By Kaius Niemi
     
      "The manner in which it was torn shows creative thinking... The paper is completely scrunched up", says Foreign Ministry official Mikko Pyhälä with a smile. He shows a piece of scrap paper that Sweden's late Prime Minister Olof Palme used during the summit of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in 1975.
      Pyhälä worked for the secretariat of the conference, and collected the material used by the heads of state. He collected the paper onto which the leaders scribbled notes, and put them in a bank vault for 30 years.
     
The leaders of the East and West used the papers to test the thick pens before signing the final act, which many researchers say undermined the tyranny of the Soviet Union in Cold War Europe. The papers are now seeing the light of day for the first time.
      "Now that 30 years are gone I thought that it might be a good idea to put them forward. They do reveal something about psychology and culture. It will probably be of interest to biographical historians, as well as experts researching the psycho-dynamics of the signing event."
      Pyhälä is not even considering selling the collection. "This is national property, in a way."
     
Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky tested his pen using very broad strokes, while East German leader Erich Honecker made due with a minimalist E. The notebook of Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu was in an upright position as he doodled some waves. Finnish President Urho Kekkonen tested the first letters of his name: "Ur", and "Urh".
      Palme had written the names of countries, such as "Sweden" and "Holy See" in French.
      "The background to this is that the spot for each signature bore the name of the country in French, but the secretariat had left the accent marks out. I noticed that [British Prime Minister] Harold Wilson and Olof Palme tried to put the accent marks in the right places. These are the kinds of thoughts that went through their minds", Pyhälä says.
      A few of the 35 signatories did not practice their signature at all.
      Some tore their note papers into tiny bits into the ashtray in front of them, from where Pyhälä took them and pieced them together again. He has pasted copies of the real signatures onto the papers to make it easier to compare them with the practice signatures.
     
To dry the ink, another device was needed in addition to the Prime Minister's blotter.
      When nothing of the kind could be found in the ministry, Pyhälä borrowed the blotter of his father Olavi. "We didn't have the nerve to as the office of the President", Pyhälä noted.
      There were a few awkward moments. Cypriot President Makarios had to resort to his own pen, because as an Orthodox Archbishop, he could only sign documents in red ink.
      In a security inspection before the meeting in Finlandia Hall before the meeting, two pens went missing from Pyhälä's cupboard.
      In case of a bomb or other sabotage, he was told to test all pens personally.
      The copies of the note papers and Pyhälä's other memorabilia can be seen at the CSCE 1975 exhibition at the Urho Kekkonen Museum in Tamminiemi in Helsinki
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 26.5.2005

More on this subject:
 BACKGROUND: CSCE history yet to be written

KAIUS NIEMI / Helsingin Sanomat
kaius.niemi@hs.fi