Obituary: Tatu Vanhanen 1929-2015

Abstract

The political scientist Tatu Vanhanen, who died on 22nd August 2015 aged 86, was Finland's most notorious academic. This was principally on account of his work carried out with Richard Lynn on national IQs, first published in IQ and the Wealth of Nations (Lynn & Vanhanen, 2002). This book, combining Lynn's calculations of national IQs and Vanhanen's mastery of political science and economics, argued that there were national differences in (strongly heritable) IQ and that these predicted differences in national wealth.In August 2004, Vanhanen gave an interview about the book to the monthly magazine attached to Finland's biggest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. He told the journalist 'Whereas the average IQ of Finns is 97, in Africa it is between 60 and 70. Differences in intelligence are the most significant factor in explaining poverty.' This 'thought crime' resulted in Finland's Ombudsman for Minorities, Mikko Puumalainen, demanding that Vanhanen be prosecuted for 'inciting hatred against an ethnic group'. The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (the Finnish FBI) then announced that they were investigating whether there were grounds for prosecution. The incident generated huge media coverage because Vanhanen's son, Matti, had become Prime Minister the previous year. Matti Vanhanen distanced himself from his father's remarks but refused to become embroiled in the affair. However, it was announced that there was insufficient evidence to proceed against the 75 year-old Emeritus Professor and the case was dropped. As a result, Tatu Vanhanen became a household name in Finland and his death, after a long illness, was reported in every national and significant local newspaper in the country. Even some of my own research on Finland has been of interest to the Finnish press partly because it was co-authored with Richard Lynn and he had worked with Tatu Vanhanen.Tatu Vanhanen was born on 17th April 1929 in the village of Sintola in the municipality of Vuoksenranta in the eastern Finnish province of Karelia. His father was a farmer, Taavi Vanhanen (1905-1968). In November 1939, the Soviet Union demanded that Finland give up eastern Karelia (often simply referred to as 'Karelia' in this context). Eastern Karelia included Vuoksenranta and the country's second city, Vyborg. Together with the areas of Lapland the Soviets wanted, the Finns would have to give up 12% of their territory and 20% of their industrial capacity. When Finland refused to concede to the Soviet Union, the Soviets invaded. Despite a surprisingly successful resistance campaign during the Winter War, Finland lost the territory, and most of Karelia's 410,000 residents (12% of the Finnish population) fled to the new Finland, including Vanhanen's family. Then, in the so-called Continuation War, Finland took Karelia back again in 1941 and about half the residents returned, the Vanhanens among them. But the Finns were forced to surrender Karelia to the Soviets in 1944, with the Karelian Finns given just 10 days to get out before the border would be closed. Vanhanen's family were part of the huge re-exodus of Karelian refugees to the new Finland. The Vanhanen family were evacuated to Kauraketo near Somero in southwestern Finland where Vanhanen's father later became chairman of the local forestry and fishing society. Farmers were compensated in proportion to their previous landholdings but received about a third of their original farm size.In the chaos of war, Vanhanen had to leave school at 12 and begin working on a farm. He gained his secondary school education via a part-time correspondence course organized by the Finnish Lifelong Learning Society. Vanhanen joined the Agrarian League (later known as the Centre Party), a traditionalist party with strong rural support which was, and remains, one of Finland's largest political parties. The party was involved in running the Alkio Folk School - an adult education college - in Jyvaskyla, in the center of the country. …