Welles Declaration
The Welles Declaration was a diplomatic statement issued on July 23, 1940, by
The 1940 Soviet invasion was an implementation of its 1939
Welles, concerned with postwar border planning, had been authorized by Roosevelt to issue stronger public statements that gauged a move towards more intervention.
The declaration established a five-decade nonrecognition of the annexation.[4] The document had major significance for overall US policy toward Europe in the critical year of 1940.[5] The US did not engage the Soviet militarily in the region, but the declaration enabled the Baltic states to maintain independent diplomatic missions, and Executive Order 8484 protected Baltic financial assets. Its essence was supported by all subsequent US presidents and congressional resolutions.
The Baltic states re-established their independence in 1990 and 91.
Background
19th and early 20th centuries
From the late 18th into the early 20th century, the
The U.S. had granted full
The U.S. had suffered over 100,000 deaths during the war
Outbreak of World War II
The situation changed after the outbreak of
Roosevelt did not wish to lead the U.S. into the war, and his 1937 Quarantine Speech indirectly denouncing aggression by Italy and Japan had met mixed responses. Welles felt freer in that regard and looking towards postwar border issues and the establishment of an American-led international body that could intervene in such disputes.[11][page needed] Roosevelt saw Welles's stronger public statements as experiments that would test the public mood towards Ameeicai foreign policy.[11][page needed]
The secret protocol contained in the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union had relegated Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to the Soviet sphere of influence. In late 1939 and early 1940, the Soviet Union issued a series of ultimatums to the Baltic governments that eventually led to the illegal annexation of the states.[7] (At about the same time, the Soviet Union was exerting similar pressure on Finland.) About 30,000 Soviet troops entered the Baltic states during June 1940, followed by arrests of their leaders and citizens.[12]
Elections to "People's Assemblies" were held in all three states in mid-July; the Soviet-sponsored slates received between 92.2% and 99.2% of the vote.[13] In June, John Cooper Wiley of the State Department sent coded telegrams to Washington reporting developments in the Baltics, and the reports influenced Welles.[14] The U.S. responded with a July 15 amendment to Executive Order 8389 that froze the assets of the Baltic states, grouped them with German-occupied countries, and issued the condemnatory Welles Declaration.[4]
Formulation
The Welles Declaration was written by
In a conversation on the morning of July 23, Welles asked Henderson to prepare a press release "expressing sympathy for the people of the Baltic States and condemnation of the Soviet action."[18][19] After reviewing the statement's initial draft, Welles emphatically expressed his opinion that it was not strong enough. In the presence of Henderson, Welles called Roosevelt and read the draft to him. Roosevelt and Welles agreed that it needed strengthening. Welles then reformulated several sentences and added others which apparently had been suggested by Roosevelt. According to Henderson, "President Roosevelt was indignant at the manner in which the Soviet Union annexed the Baltic States and personally approved the condemnatory statement issued by Under Secretary Welles on the subject."[18] The declaration was made public and telegraphed to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow later that day.[18][20]
Text
The statement read:[2]
During these past few days the devious processes 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 those 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 twenty-one sovereign republics of the New World rests.
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.
Impact
World War II
Welles also announced that the US government would continue to recognize the
The declaration was a source of contention during the subsequent alliance between the Americans, the British, and the Soviets, but Welles persistently defended it.
As the war intensified, Roosevelt accepted the need for Soviet assistance and was reluctant to address postwar territorial conflicts.
Postwar
The declaration linked American foreign policy towards the Baltic states with the
Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, a judge of international law, described the basis of the nonrecognition doctrine as being founded on the principles of ex injuria jus non oritur:
This construction of non-recognition is based on the view that acts contrary to international law are invalid and cannot become a source of legal rights for the wrongdoer. That view applies to international law one of "the general principles of law recognized by civilized nation." The principle ex injuria jus non oritur is one of the fundamental maxims of jurisprudence. An illegality cannot, as a rule, become a source of legal right to the wrongdoer.[29]
Like the Stimson Doctrine, Welles's declaration was largely symbolic in nature, but it offered some material benefits in conjunction with
The American position that the Baltic states had been forcibly annexed would remain its official stance for 51 years. Subsequent presidents and congressional resolutions reaffirmed the substance of the declaration.
On July 26, 1983, on the 61st anniversary of de jure recognition of the three Baltic countries by the U.S. in 1922, President Ronald Reagan re-declared the recognition of the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The declaration was read in the United Nations as well.[28] Throughout the 51 years that followed the 1940 occupation of the Baltic states, all U.S. official maps and publications that mentioned the Baltic states included a statement of U.S. non-recognition of Soviet occupation.[28]
The independence movements in the states in the 1980s and the 1990 succeeded, and the United Nations recognized all three in 1991.[33] They went on to become members of the European Union and NATO. Their development since independence is generally regarded as the most successful among post-Soviet states.[34] [35]
Commenting on the declaration's 70th anniversary, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described it as "a tribute to each of our countries' commitment to the ideals of freedom and democracy."[36] On July 23, 2010, a commemorative plaque inscribed with its text in English and Lithuanian was formally dedicated in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.[37]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Hiden, et al, p. 3
- ^ a b c Hiden, et al. p. 39
- ^ Hiden, et al, p. 40
- ^ a b c Made, Vahur. "Foreign policy statements of Estonian diplomatic missions during the Cold War: establishing the Estonian pro-US discourse". Estonian School of Diplomacy. Archived from the original on 2008-10-17. Retrieved 2009-05-02.
- ^ Hiden, et al, pp. 33–34
- ^ a b Ashbourne, p. 15
- ^ a b c Hiden, et al, p. 33
- ^ "American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics" (PDF). CSR Report for Congress. 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-02.
- ^ Hiden, et al, p. 39
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-52220-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-231-14258-8.
- ^ ISSN 0024-5089. Retrieved 2009-05-14.
- ISBN 0-520-08228-1.
- ^ "Bearing Witness: The Story of John & Irena Wiley" (PDF). US Embassy in Estonia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
- ^ Dallek, p. 283
- ISBN 0-8476-9416-X.
- ^ "How Loy Henderson Earned Estonia's Cross of Liberty" (PDF). U.S. Embassy in Estonia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
- ^ a b c d "Oral History Interview with Loy W. Henderson". The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. 1973. Retrieved 2009-05-02.
- ^ Hiden, et al., pp. 39–40
- ^ Hiden, et al., p. 41
- ^ a b c d Hulen, Bertram (1940-07-24). "U.S. Lashes Soviet for Baltic Seizure". The New York Times. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ Dunn, p. 118
- ISBN 0-8420-2365-8.
- ^ Dunn, p. 161
- ^ Hiden, et al., pp. 41–42
- ^ ISBN 978-0-312-17440-8.
- ^ Dallek, p. 436
- ^ a b c d e Miljan, p. 346.
- ISSN 0024-5089. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
- ^ Hiden, et al., p. 42
- ^ Hiden, et al., p. 43
- ISSN 0021-4019. Archived from the originalon 2012-07-26. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ISBN 978-1-85743-058-5.
- ISBN 0-313-32355-0.
- ^ Serhii, Plokhy (November 30, 2021). "The Return of History: The Post-Soviet Space Thirty Years after the Fall of the USSR". Ukrainian Research Institute of Harvard University.
- ^ Clinton, Hillary Rodham (2010-07-22). "Seventieth Anniversary of the Welles Declaration". U.S. State Department. Archived from the original on 2010-07-30. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
- Delfi.lt. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
Sources
- Alexandra Ashbourne. Lithuania: The Rebirth of a Nation, 1991–1994. ISBN 978-0-7391-0027-1.
- Edward Moore Bennett. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Search for Victory: American–Soviet Relations, 1939–1945. ISBN 978-0-8420-2365-8.
- Robert Dallek. Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945: With a New Afterword. ISBN 978-0-19-509732-0.
- Dennis J. Dunn. Caught Between Roosevelt & Stalin: America's Ambassadors to Moscow. ISBN 978-0-8131-2023-2.
- John Hiden, Vahur Made, David J. Smith, editors. The Baltic Question During the Cold War. London: ISBN 978-0-415-37100-1.
- Toivo Miljan. Historical Dictionary of Estonia. Volume 43 of European historical dictionaries. ISBN 978-0-8108-4904-4.