860M.01/8–2245
Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. Francis B. Stevens of the Division of Eastern European Affairs
At Mr. Dunn’s request I received a delegation from the Lithuanian American Council which had been holding a two-day conference in Washington. The delegation consisted of Mr. Leonard Simutis, Mr. William F. Daukaitis, Dr. Pius Grigaitis, Mr. Michael Vaidyla and Mr. Constantine R. Jurgela.
The delegation claimed that the Lithuanian American Council represents 98 percent of the persons of Lithuanian extraction in the United States, the number approximating one million. All members of the delegation are American citizens. They expressed their concern for the independence and sovereignty of Lithuania and the hope that the policy of the United States Government had not changed since the Department’s statement of July 23, 194030 and President Roosevelt’s statement of October 15, 1940. …
[Page 876][Here follow paragraphs summarizing matters of concern to the delegation and also summarizing three memoranda (not printed) left by the delegation.]
After listening to statements by each of the members of the delegation, I informed them that the policy of the American Government toward Lithuania as set forth in the statements to which they referred was unchanged and that this Government continues to recognize the Lithuanian Minister in Washington31 as the representative of Lithuania. I pointed out, however, that the Soviet Union was in effective occupation of Lithuania and considered that Lithuania had been formally incorporated into the Soviet Union as one of the sixteen constituent republics. I assured the delegation that the considerations which they had raised would be brought to the attention of the appropriate officials in the Department and expressed on behalf of Mr. Dunn his regret that he had been unable to receive them personally.
- Statement regarding the independence and territorial integrity of the Baltic Republics, Foreign Relations, 1940, vol. i, p. 401.↩
- Povilas Žadeikis.↩