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Today, March 11th, we commemorate the Day of the Restoration of Lithuania’s Independence. Thirty-one years ago Lithuania started writing a new chapter of its history. While every Lithuanian who lived in Lithuania during this extraordinary time can take pride in being a part of this chapter, the Lithuanian American community in the US has also played a crucial role in furthering the cause of Lithuanian independence and augmenting its international recognition.
Dr. Joseph Kazickas wrote in his auto biography “Odyssey of Hope”:
I had a chance to raise the issue of Lithuania’s occupation to all of the postwar Presidents of the United States, from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George Bush Senior. Put into perspective, those encounters were modest and no doubt totally forgettable for the luminaries involved. But they meant a great deal to me. If only for a few minutes, I was able to make a case for the independence of my beloved homeland with the most powerful people in the world.
Just as these meeting meant a great deal to Dr. Kazickas, they meant even more to Lithuania. Many letters and discussions that followed those meetings started opening the world to his dear homeland.
On April 9, 1990 he wrote a letter to President Carter asking for his intercession to help further the acceptance of Lithuania as an independent state, as well as development of democracy in Eastern Europe and the preservation of world peace. In his letter he cited Harvard University law professor Laurence Tribe “Lithuania’s position is that it does not need to secede from the Soviet Union since it was occupied by the Red Army and was forcibly annexed and therefore never joined.” Prof. Tribe, a highly respected scholar and commentator, shared a 15 page memorandum on secession and self-determination with President Carter in which he wrote: “… Once a pawn to German and Russian territorial ambitions, today Lithuania’s own interests are held hostage to the diplomatic maneuvering of the Soviet Union and the United States…"
As we know now, it took almost six months for the USA to officially recognize Lithuania as an Independent state, and those were long, hard-working months for dr. Joseph Kazickas and many Lithuanians and their allies all across the globe.
Photo: Dr. J. Kazickas with President George Bush, Sr. May 3, 1990