Welles Declaration revisited

TALLINN - On July 23, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton marked the Welles Declaration, 70 years after it demonstrated the U.S.’s refusal to recognize the Soviet Union’s control over the three Baltic states in 1940. “On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I join the governments and people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in marking the 70th anniversary of the Welles Declaration this July 23, and reaffirm the strong bonds between our countries,” Clinton said.
It was then-acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles who declared that the United States would not recognize the incorporation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania following the Soviet annexation of the three Baltic States in 1940. Over 50 countries followed the United States in adopting this position.

“This milestone document supported the Baltic States as independent republics at a critical moment to ensure their international recognition and facilitate the continued operation of their diplomatic missions during 50 years of occupation,” Clinton added.

“The Welles Declaration is a testament to our longstanding support of the Baltic States and a tribute to each of our countries’ commitment to the ideals of freedom and democracy. As Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania celebrate nearly 20 years of fully restored independence, we honor our Baltic friends as valued NATO allies, strong partners in Europe and on the international stage, and living proof for all that democracy and good governance can achieve,” she concluded.

The prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania sent U.S. President Barack Obama a joint letter expressing their gratitude to the U.S. for its policy of non-recognition of the incorporation of the Baltic States into the USSR, a policy that commenced exactly seventy years ago.

The letter, signed by Andrus Ansip (Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia), Valdis Dombrovskis (Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia) and Andrius Kubilius (Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania), stated that the restoration of the independence of the Baltic States at the end of the last century became possible due to the principled foreign policy of the United States of America. “On July 23, 1940, the acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles began a long-lasting non-recognition policy of illegal Soviet occupation and annexation which enabled the diplomatic representations of the Baltic States to continue working and gave their people strength and hope to go on campaigning for their freedom,” the letter states.

“We, the prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to the American people for their courageous and highly moral action and congratulate you, Mr. President, on this anniversary of the successful foreign policy that has made the United States of America a beacon of freedom for all oppressed nations and aspiring democracies.”

Foreign Minister Urmas Paet stated that Estonia still remembers the U.S.’s concrete principles and the help that was given to help Estonia restore its independence. “Over the decades, the non-recognition policy of the United States gave the people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania the hope and enthusiasm to believe in the restoration of independence and to act on the desire for freedom,” Paet emphasized. “In addition to hope in Estonia, we should also keep in mind that Estonia was represented as a country in the United States throughout the entire occupation. I’m sure we all remember Ambassador Ernst Jaakson, the Estonian diplomat who handed the Estonian Consulate General in New York, which had functioned throughout the occupation years, to the newly independent Republic of Estonia in 1991,” said Paet. 

After the Baltic States were occupied, and staged parliamentary elections with forged results, held as a result of Soviet pressure, the acting U.S. Secretary of State Sumner Welles declared on July 23, 1940, that the United States of America condemns the actions of the Soviet Union in deliberately annihilating the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
“The most difficult thing for a politician is to testify the truth. That’s because the testimony of truth is usually a very costly matter. Seventy years ago the U.S.A. passed the exam of telling the truth,” said Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Azubalis, thanking the people of the U.S. for implementing a long-term policy that did not recognize the unlawful occupation and annexation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia after World War II.

“During these past few days,” the Welles Declaration began, “the devious processes where under the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic republics - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - were to be deliberately annihilated by one of their more powerful neighbors, have been rapidly drawing to their conclusion.” The Baltic States were swept into the Soviet Union in early August.

The declaration paved the way for other nations not to recognize Soviet power in the Baltics. Estonian historian Eero Medijainen, in an essay in The Baltic Question During the Cold War, suggested that U.S. policy toward the Baltics was lukewarm through the 1920s and 1930s, but changed markedly with the Welles Declaration.