The diplomatic statement was issued on July 23, 1940 and established the U.S. policy of nonrecognition of the Soviet annexation of the Baltic nations.
Representatives from the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian embassies joined JBANC’s annual observance at the grave of Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles, who drafted the declaration while serving as foreign policy advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
We remain ever grateful to Mr. Welles and for the 51-year endurance of the policy he stablished.
JBANC / EANC