Welles Declaration Anniversary Commemorated

Karl Altau, JBANC

On July 23, 2024, the annual commemoration of the Welles Declaration took place in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC. The Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur and Acting Assistant Secretary of State Yuri Kim took part, together with the embassies of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

It was the 84th anniversary of the 1940 declaration which outlined the United States policy of non-recognition of the Soviet takeover of the three Baltic countries. That year, the statement of the Acting United States Secretary of State Sumner Welles declared the occupation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union illegal. This position, known as the Welles Declaration, became the basis for the U.S. policy of non-recognition of the annexation of the Baltic states.

As was reiterated at the event by the speakers, standing firmly for the sovereign self-determination of countries and the principles of international law is very relevant even today, especially in connection with Russia's aggression in Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories.

Minister Pevkur and Assistant Secretary Kim gave remarks, together with Latvian ambassador Māris Selga and Lithuanian em-bassy Deputy Chief of Mission Artūras Vazbys. Estonian ambassador Krist-jan Prikk was also present, along with other representatives from the three Baltic embassies, the Estonian Ministry of Defense, the U.S. Congress, and the Baltic-American communities. This year, about 35 people attended. The Joint Baltic American National Committee (JBANC) has organized the event over the past decade, with the cooperation of the three Baltic embassies. JBANC Managing Director greeted and introduced the speakers. JBANC intern Liene Craft read the declaration, which is printed in its entirety below.

Participants placed flowers at the final resting places of Welles and of Loy Hender-son, who is buried close by.

On July 23, 1940, Sumner Welles, as Acting Secretary of State issued a statement that became known as the Welles Declaration. His colleague Loy Henderson, who was considered one of the Department’s top Soviet specialists together with George Kennan, helped craft the document. As part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany agreed to allow the Soviet Union to take over Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The declaration condemned those actions and stated Washington's refusal to recognize the legitimacy of Soviet rule in those countries. More than 50 countries later followed the U.S. in this position, in a policy that was in effect for half a century until the independence of the Baltic states was restored.

Department of State

July 23, 1940

Statement by the Acting Secretary of State, The Honorable Sumner Welles

During these past few days the devious process whereunder 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.

From the day when the peoples of these Republics first gained their independent and democratic form of government the people of the United States have watched their admirable progress in self-government with deep and sympathetic interest.

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 state, however weak.

These principles constitute the very foundations upon which the existing relationship between the 21 sovereign republics of the New World rests.

The United States will continue to stand by these principles, be 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.