Press Releases
Hoover Institution Presents Archival Material to Latvia for the 90th Anniversary
On November 13, U.S. Ambassador Charles Larson presented a gift from the people of United States to the people of Latvia to Latvian President Zatlers of archival material about Latvia drawn from archives in the United States. The archive material consists of some 150 high resolution digital images of documents and photographs drawn from the Hoover Institution in Stanford, California, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa, and the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
The archival material consists of documents about Latvia and U.S. diplomatic relations throughout recent history. The gift is an essential contribution to documents in the archives in Latvia. From digital images and other documents Latvian society will have a opportunity to learn about U.S. President Herbert Hoover and his generous work in organizing humanitarian assistance programs to help European countries destroyed during World War I.
Included in the donation are cables from U.S. Department of State cables authorizing the recognition and establishment of diplomatic relations with the Republic of Latvia in 1922. Documents surrounding the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 are also included, including an official statement of the United States’ policy of the non-recognition of Latvia’s annexation by the Soviet Union. There are also documents about several outstanding exiled Latvians and their lives.
The gift will be a valuable supplement to an archive material collection Latvia’s State archive received in 2003.
Ambassador's speech at the history conference “Latvian National Independence: The Idea and this Realization”:
President Zatlers, Mr. Rudovskis, Mr. Richard Sousa, Mr. Maciej Siekierski ,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Ninety years ago the people of Latvia rose from the ashes of World War I, and declared a free and independent nation. Since that time Latvia has paid a high price for this freedom. The long years of struggle against an array of foreign enemies taught Latvians young and old the truth of the saying that “freedom isn’t free.” From the First World War, through the days of foreign occupation, Latvians of all ages began a tradition of sacrifice that has been carried through many years that have passed, both bright and dark.
It is fitting then, given the theme of this conference, that on behalf of the people of the United States I present as a gift to the people of Latvia and to you Mr. President, copies of historic material about Latvia drawn from archives in the United States.
The material contained on these CDs consists of some 150 high resolution digital images of documents and photographs drawn from the Hoover Institution, the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library – located in my home state of Iowa – and the United States National Archives. Among the documents are copies of diplomatic cables authorizing the recognition and establishment of diplomatic relations with the Republic of Latvia in 1922 as well items surrounding the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940. The Hoover Institution has provided both documents and photographs focusing on the work in Latvia from 1919-1920 of the American Relief Administration, considered at the time to be the largest humanitarian effort in recorded history. It distributed large quantities of much needed food and other supplies to devastated regions of Europe in the years immediately after World War I.
I would like to draw attention to two documents in particular, which I believe sum up the enduring bonds between our two nations. On July 23, 1940 in the wake of the Soviet occupation and impending annexation of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, then Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles issued a statement on the official position of the United States Government towards these actions. This policy of “non-recognition” would remain unaltered for over 50 years, throughout the course of the Cold War. In his statement Secretary Welles said:
“The policy of this Government is universally known. The people of the United States are opposed to predatory activities no matter whether they are carried on by the use of force or by the threat of force. They are likewise opposed to any form of intervention on the part of one state, however powerful, in the domestic concerns of any other sovereign states, however weak. … The United States will continue to stand by these principles, because of the conviction of the American people that unless the doctrine in which these principles are inherent once again governs the relations between nations, the rule of reason, of justice, and of law—in other words the basis of modern civilization itself – cannot be preserved.”
On the first anniversary of this important statement, Alfreds Bilmanis, Latvia’s Envoy to the United States wrote in a letter of appreciation to Secretary Welles: “I have the honor to deliver to your hands, in the name of the Latvian Nation, the most sincerest expression of gratitude to the Great American Democracy….This generous and highly humanitarian act of the United States Government will be engraved in Latvian History, as a shinning testimony, that at the darkest time, the Latvian Nation received encouragement and assurance that Right, Justice and Democracy still prevails, and shall prevail forever.”
With those stirring words Mr. President may I present to you this gift to mark the 90th anniversary of Latvia’s independence.