Latvia and the United States during the interwar period
On 28 July 1922, the Government of the United States issued a statement recognising the Government of Latvia, and diplomatic relations between the two countries were subsequently established. In 1922, the Latvian legation was opened in Washington, but in May 1923, it temporarily transferred its functions to the consulate in New York. In 1925, the Latvian legation in Washington, resumed its activities, but due to a lack of funds, it was closed in 1927, with its functions being taken over by the Consulate General of Latvia in New York. The legation resumed its activities in 1935.
The United States legation in Riga was opened on 13 November 1922.
Between 1919 and 1922, the American Relief Organisation and American non-governmental organisations were active in Latvia, providing significant support to the Latvian people during the early stages of state formation.
Riga was visited by several prominent Americans in the late 1930s, former President of the United States, Herbert Hoover, (March 1938) and future President of the United States, John Kennedy, (August 1939) among them. George Kennan, a prominent expert on Russian affairs in the United States Department of State, worked in Riga as an American diplomat in the first half of the 1930s.
During the interwar period, a treaty of friendship, trade, and consular rights was signed between Latvia and the United States.
Policy of the United States during the occupation of Latvia
Diplomatic relations between Latvia and the United States were destined to play a unique role in the entire history of Latvia’s foreign service. The declaration of 23 July 1940 by acting US Secretary of State Sumner Welles established a policy of non-recognition of the occupation of the Baltic states until 1991 and ensured the existence of Baltic representation in Washington. Thus, the United States never recognised the occupation of Latvia (or Lithuania and Estonia) and did not establish official relations with the Soviet government in occupied Latvia. The position reflected the principles of the Atlantic Charter, signed by the United States and Great Britain in 1941, which regarded territorial alterations and the deprivation of sovereignty as illegitimate if undertaken without the free consent of the peoples involved, and also mirrored the 1947 Truman Doctrine, which did not recognise forced changes in the international system. The Latvian legation in Washington was the only foreign legation of our country that continued to operate at full capacity throughout the occupation of Latvia. During the years of occupation, its principal objectives were to continue representing the Latvian state, preserve Latvia’s international legal status, advocate for the restoration of independence, and carry out vital informational work by publishing Western declarations, statements, and documents relating to Latvia, as well as providing news on the situation in occupied Latvia.
On 15 July 1940, even before any official response, the United States Treasury Department froze the bank accounts of the Baltic states; subsequently, the USSR was also unable to gain control of Latvian ships and the assets of its diplomatic missions abroad. Latvian funds, including interest on deposits held in the United States, were used throughout the occupation to support the functioning of diplomatic missions, including those in other Western countries.
On the basis of the policy refusing to recognise the occupation of the Baltic states, and in accordance with the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, Baltic refugees were allowed to settle in the United States after the war. Latvian communities in the United States expanded and became increasingly well organised. Political, cultural, and social organisations were established, which influenced political decision-making in Washington.
The Government of the United States supported the idea of Latvian independence. Latvia’s representatives in the United States enjoyed full diplomatic recognition, including access to the United States Department of State and the President, and were invited to official events. Latvia’s envoy Anatols Dinbergs met every United States President from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George H. W. Bush. In 1963, following the death in London of Kārlis Zariņš, who had been authorised by the Government of Latvia to lead Latvia’s diplomatic service abroad, this responsibility was transferred to Latvian diplomats in the United States, in accordance with a decision by the heads of Latvia’s diplomatic missions: initially to A. Spekke, and from 1971 to A. Dinbergs. During this period, funding was allocated to the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian Freedom Committees in the United States. United States Presidents and members of Congress often voiced their public support for the Baltic states. In 1953, a special investigative committee of the House of Representatives was established to investigate the communist regime’s aggression against the Baltic states, known as the Kersten Committee. Over a period of two years, it conducted extensive research, and the documents prepared by the committee provided further justification for the United States policy of non-recognition.
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan declared 14 June as Baltic Freedom Day, commemorating the mass deportations in the Baltic states in 1941.
Cooperation between the Latvian representation in Washington and the United States Department of State in the late 1980s facilitated the establishment of the first unofficial contacts between Latvia and the Government of the United States. The 41st President of the United States, George (Herbert Walker) Bush, played a significant role in the restoration of the Baltic states’ independence in 1991, helping to bring the issue of their freedom to the fore in meetings with USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev and later with the President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin.
For additional information on relations between Latvia and the United States, see the book Latvia and the USA: From Captive Nation to Strategic Partner (2008).
