Arne Kalm: Notes For Panel Discussion
Estonians in America: Past, Present and Future
EANC, Stamford, CT – Sat. Sept. 27, 2014
Introduction
I am delighted to participate on this panel and plan to devote most of my allotted time to a historical review of past political activities in the broader Estonian community in the U.S. – what we in Estonian have usually called “välisvõitlus”. This is where I have been active over the years and can give you an extensive summary based on personal observation.
Non-recognition policy
The non-recognition policy of the United States with respect to the forcible takeover of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union was first announced by Asst. Secretary of State Sumner Welles in July of 1940.
The earliest voices supporting the maintenance of this policy came from the embassies of the three Baltic countries accredited in Washington when World War II broke out. In the Estonian case, this meant Consul General Johannes Kaiv and his associate Ernst Jaakson. These two men (and their Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts) were the original välisvõitlejad. They maintained a Baltic presence with their carefully worded memoranda to the State Department’s Baltic desk during and after World War II.
Work of refugee organizations
When refugees started to arrive in 1948 and form social organizations, sometimes in the form of renewed life for old Estonian societies established twenty or more years earlier in places like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, an inevitable part of our organized activity became standing up for freedom of our homelands.
Who can forget the annual Independence Day events on February 24th and the annual deportation commemorations on June 14th. The latter was carried out in concert with Latvians and Lithuanians. Soon opportunities also arose to affiliate with the Captive Nations movement, which r epresented a broader group of eastern European countries, to present events on a broader scale.
Establishment of central organizations
The local organizations formed or revived by newly arrived World War II refugees, saw the benefits of coordination with their counterparts elsewhere. Eesti Rahvuskomitee Ühendriikides was formed in 1952, following the pattern of the Lithuanian and Latvian communities, which formed their central organizations during the previous year.
ERKÜ has always had a political aspect, but a clearly-defined one that calls for it to pursue programs that benefit Estonia and Estonians. What we call ‘välisvõitlus’ is well defined as supporting the Estonian cause in the halls of Congress and in the Administration. Really not much different than Jewish-American organizations supporting the cause of a free and independent State of Israel. Yet, well-defined enough so that the IRS cannot allege that we participate in supporting partisan political activity.
During its first ten years, ERKÜ pursued its own course, with modest co-ordination with Latvian and Lithuanian central organizations. By 1961 the three groups saw the benefit of a formal central organization in Washington to speak out for Baltic causes and JBANC was formed as a joint venture of the three central organizations. It has continued to function to this day and remains an important arm of what ERKÜ does each year.
JBANC has typically had a paid executive director, who for quite a number of years has been the Estonian, Karl Altau. Karl does a terrific job in representing the Baltic cause through JBANC programs.
The interesting thing about the agenda – for the Baltic community, for ERKÜ and for JBANC – is that our mission has changed over the years and will continue to change in the future to respond to the political landscape. Even during the first thirty years through 1991, when the primary focus was restoration of Baltic independence, there were supplemental causes to support involving the treatment of Baltic dissidents in the Soviet Union, supporting asylum seekers in the United States, various human rights conferences in Helsinki and elsewhere, etc.
After 1991, supporting membership in NATO for the Baltic countries became an important activity, which required serious lobbying in the U.S. Congress, along with the representatives of other eastern European nationalities, who were similarly seeking admission. In retrospect, securing the support of the first Bush Administration for Baltic states admission to NATO was an important step in rebuilding a free Europe. It could easily have gone the other way with a non-NATO buffer zone in eastern Europe.
Although many have suggested that ERKÜ no longer has a political role to play, one of the evident truths of Putin’s forays – a few years ago into the Republic of Georgia, more recently into Crimea and eastern Ukraine – is that Baltic central organizations need to continue to apply political pressure in Congress and in the Administration to make sure that the U.S. continues to be adamantly opposed to any Russian takeover of the Baltics. This is certainly one of the important truths of recent events in Ukraine, as well as President Obama’s trip to Tallinn and the continuing political dialogue in Europe. We must remain vigilant!
Some more political activities
Over the years, Estonians in America also organized various regional events. These inevitably had a strong political component, where we publicized the injustice done in our countries. Being from Los Angeles, I remember West Coast Estonian Days in 1955, where the featured political speaker was William F. Knowland, recently the Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate.
Another large scale event has been the periodic celebration of global ESTOs in various locations around the world. I particularly remember the one in Baltimore in 1976, which drew attention to conditions in the Baltics.
Another group of activities that needs to be mentioned is the broadcasting activities of the U.S. Government through Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. These continuing broadcasts were intended to provide hope for people behind the Iron Curtain and over the years they had numerous Estonian-American staff members, whose names would be familiar to you.
Volunteer initiatives – ACA
Although the activities of our central organizations have been and will continue to be important in the political arena, I would like to stress that there have been a few other key activities, each basically organized by volunteers, that have been extremely important in the overall picture.
In 1961, when I was barely out of college, I had the privilege of getting involved with one of these ad hoc groups. Its mission was to secure the passage of resolutions in both the House of Representatives and in the United States Senate calling for freedom for the Baltic States, the return of political prisoners and free elections.
The first of these resolutions was basically the work of one man, a Lithuanian-American in Los Angeles by the name of Leonard Valiukas. He had gotten involved with Young Republicans at UCLA, joined some local conservative groups upon graduation and learned how the American political process worked. He drafted the first Baltic resolutions and persuaded U.S. Senator Thomas Kuchel of California and a local Congressman by the name of Glen Lipscomb to introduce them in their respective chambers.
For the next six years, an organization formed by Valiukas called Americans for Congressinal Action to Free the Baltic States, comprising a Lithuanian section, a Latvian section and an Estonian section worked to get the resolutions passed. First in the House in 1965 and later in the Senate in 1966.
I have spent the last couple of years writing the history of this organization. It will be published in Estonia early next year. You will be able to read about its details under the tentative title, “Rebels with a Cause.” The story really involves a maverick organization. How it was first rejected and later endorsed by the powers that be. It’s how I first got to be elected to ERKÜ membership in 1966. It also brought Juhan Simonson and Ants Pallop into active participation in ERKÜ. Their roles are prominent in my book.
Volunteer initiatives – Political campaigning
The volunteers who were most active in ACA recognized that the Baltic cause could be best served by active participation in the political party structure as U.S. citizens. This permitted better access to legislators, who could support the Baltic cause.
Their initiative began a long period of active participation in political party campaigns – both at the State and the National level. Because the Democratic party was tied to the Roosevelt legacy of a sell-out of eastern Europe after World War II, Estonians were primarily Republicans starting in the 1950’s. The first presidential campaign that I can find, where there was a nationwide Estonian organization, is 1960 when Richard Nixon first ran for president, but lost to John F. Kennedy. It was headed by Bernard Nurmsen in Los Angeles, who later also led a Goldwater for President campaign group in 1964.
Over the years, these campaign groups were created every four years. Various leading board members of ERKÜ – including Paul Saar, Ilmar Pleer and Mati Kõiva – were involved over the years.
In California, Reagan for Governor support organizations in 1966 and 1970 established contact with Reagan’s staff people. When he ran for president in 1976 and again in 1980, Baltic activists were well entrenched in the Reagan campaign, which later proved to be very helpful.
In Michigan, one Estonian-American was particularly outstanding. Ilmar Heinaru got his start in 1962 as the state co-ordinator for ethnic groups in the successful campaign of George Romney for Governor. He moved on to be Director of Nationalities for the Republican Party in Michigan and eventually migrated to Washington, where he served as Nationalities Director for the Nixon for President campaign in 1968 and later, for many years, in the U.S. State Department.
Volunteer initiatives – BATUN
Another similar story of volunteer initiative started with a mass rally at Madison Square Garden in New York on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Soviet takeover of the Baltics. This event was organized by an ad hoc group of five young Lithuanian-Americans that called itself the Committee to Restore Lithuania’s Independence. Once their plans were laid, they reached out to Latvians and Estonians to join in as well. The result was 15,000 people at the Garden with two major political speakers, lots of music and entertainment, followed by a procession to United Nations Plaza on the East River.
In addition to publicity for the cause triggered by the event, there was also a long-term consequence. The organizers got together several weeks later and BATUN, or Baltic Appeal to the UN, was born. BATUN was a viable organization for many years starting in early 1966.
For the first five years, it focused in New York with the message to decolonize the Baltic States. Starting in 1971, the focus shifted more to Geneva and Helsinki, where the subject was the defense of human rights.
BATUN earned a role in the spectrum of ‘välisvõitlus’. At least one of the present Council members, Urmas Wompa, has been active in BATUN over the years.
Volunteer initiatives – BAFL
A third and final ad hoc organization formed to support Baltic freedom received its start after Ronald Reagan took office as President in 1981. Its formation was the direct result of Lithuanian participation in the Reagan election campaign.
A political PR firm, employed by the campaign, was looking for new work and a deal was struck with an ad hoc group of Baltic activists, who guaranteed its early fees. BAFL was born under their leadership. Over the years, BAFL was responsible for the annual declaration of Baltic Freedom Day on June 14th, for supporting the cause of Baltic dissidents and for publicizing the cause of Baltic freedom in the 1980’s. It also had a big role in supporting the admission of the Baltic countries into NATO.
Today, 33 years later, it is still extremely relevant in speaking out against Russian moves in Georgia, Ukraine and elsewhere. Former Council members Avo Piirisild, Heino Nurmberg and Hendrik Leesment were active leaders in BAFL over the years.
Conclusion
In this brief summary of Estonian political activities here in the States, I have tried to illustrate that there were two branches of activity. The first is the “formal” activity of the consulates, the local societies, ERKÜ itself and JBANC, which was supplemented by the “informal” activity of spontaneously formed independent organizations comprised of Baltic activists as well as American “friends of the cause”.
These ad hoc organizations – ACA during the 1960’s, BATUN from 1966 to 1991 and BAFL since 1981 – have been important elements in forming a Baltic lobby both in the U.S. Congress as well as in the United Nations.
Both the formal organizations and the informal ones have had their role to play and each has contributed in their own way to the lobbying effort on behalf of Baltic causes. This history should underscore the point that ‘välisvõitlus’ needs to remain on our agenda to fight off potential future incursions from outside Baltic borders!
