Amerikos lietuvių misijos genezė 1944 m. pab. - 1945 m. pr.

LTStraipsnyje nagrinėjamas mažai žinomas JAV lietuvių tautininkų 1945 m. pradžioje įkurtas judėjimas, pavadintas Amerikos lietuvių misija. 1945 m. JAV lietuviai tautininkai, kurie nuo 1941 m. veikė atskirai, planavo kviesti savo Antrąjį Amerikos lietuvių seimą, o Amerikos lietuvių taryba – šaukti Amerikos lietuvių kongresą. Jų tikslas buvo paremti Lietuvos nepriklausomybės atkūrimą po karo. Vis dėlto griežta JAV valdžios pozicija 1944–1945 m., draudusi amerikiečiams bet kokius politinio pobūdžio renginius (suvažiavimus, seimus, kongresus), darė poveikį lietuvių išeivijai. ALT’a atsisakė minties su šaukti kongresą ir nukėlė jį į vėlesnį metą, bet tautininkai ir toliau ieškojo būdų įgyvendinti savo sumanymą. Vietoje seimo jie nusprendė surengti vadinamąją Amerikos lietuvių misiją Vašingtone pakviečiant išeivijos atstovus suvažiuoti ir be jokių posėdžių, diskusijų arba rezoliucijų padėkoti JAV prezidentui už paramą Lietuvai bei paremti JAV valdžią kare prieš nacistinę Vokietiją. Buvo sudaryta speciali tokiam tautininkų suvažiavimui-misijai parengti komisija (Antanas Olis, Kazys Karpius, Pijus J. Žiūris, Aleksandras Kumskis ir Albinas S. Trečiokas), kuri sėkmingai atliko savo užduotį. 1945 m. kovo 23–24 d. Vašingtone įvyko suplanuotas lietuvių renginys, turėjęs reikšmės Lietuvos vardo garsinimui. Raktažodžiai: JAV lietuviai, tautininkai, Amerikos lietuvių misija, Amerikos lietuvių taryba, Lietuvai vaduoti sąjunga, 1945 m., suvažiavimas, Antanas Olis, Kazys Karpius, Pijus J. Žiūris, Povilas Žadeikis, Leonardas Šimutis, Pijus Grigaitis. [Iš leidinio]

ENArriving on the scene of Lithuanian-American political activities at the end of World War II, the Lithuanian-American Mission has not yet received the requisite scholarly attention. To a majority of readers it might not be clear how it differed from other like-minded organizations, why it had its special format, and what goals it set for itself. The Lithuanian-American Mission, as an organization of Lithuanian-American Nationalists, was active for several years and contributed meaningfully to advancing the cause of Lithuanian liberation. The origin of the Mission is closely tied to efforts in 1945 by the Lithuanian-American Nationalists (tautininkai) to organize their second Lithuanian-American Congress, during which they planned to present to the President of the United States a Petition signed by Lithuanian Americans asking him to support the restoration of Lithuanian independence. The Petition was supposed to be delivered to the White House by a delegation of U.S. soldiers’ mothers. The success of the Red Army on the Eastern Front and the second Soviet occupation of Lithuania compelled Lithuanians in the U. S. to jointly review the strategy and tactics of their actions in response to changes in the course of war. The U. S. Lithuanian Nationalists attempted to invite the Lithuanian American Council to cooperate in seeking the same goals with respect to Lithuania. But no agreement was reached because the two parties had different conceptions of what was involved. The leadership of the Lithuanian-American Council saw the U. S. Lithuanian Nationalists as possible members of the Lithuanian-American Council and getting one seat in the Council’s Executive Committee. The Nationalists, on the other hand, saw themselves not as members of the Council but as equal partners of it cooperating in the pursuit of the same ends.Thus for a considerable time both the Lithuanian-American Council and the Lithuanian-American Mission together with other U. S. Lithuanian Nationalist organizations separately performed the same political and propaganda tasks on behalf of Lithuania. From the end of 1944 to 1945 the U. S. government temporarily prohibited Americans from organizing political conventions and congresses in order to avoid public pressure from U. S. citizens while the government was preparing for end-of-war negotiations between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. It is well-known that the Lithuanian-American Council had planned to organize a Convention of Lithuanian-Americans but then decided to postpone it to a later time. Meanwhile the Lithuanian-American Nationalists, who had also planned to organize their second Lithuanian-American Congress, did not renounce their plan but only changed its format from a congress to a mission. They called upon all Lithuanians in the United States to send their delegates to Washington, D. C., and execute the Lithuanian-American mission without the traditional meetings, discussions, and resolutions but just thanking the U. S. President for his support of Lithuania and in turn supporting the U. S. government in its war against Nazi Germany.To prepare the congress and mission in Washington the Nationalists formed a special commission (Antanas Olis, Kazys Karpius, Pijus J. Žiūris, Aleksandras Kumskis and Albinas S. Trečiokas) which had several successful meetings. Commission members entered into contact with U. S. senators and representatives, the Lithuanian envoy Povilas Žadeikis, and American journalists; set the mission’s agenda, and discussed the financing needed for these projects. All in all, the commission executed its tasks very well. U. S. Lithuanian Nationalists in concert with the Lithuanian-American Mission were able successfully to circumvent the government’s prohibition, and on March 23–24 the planned event did take place in Washington, with many U. S. political figures taking part and the cause of Lithuania being broadly publicized. This in effect was the start of the Lithuanian-American Mission. Keywords: U. S. Lithuanians, Nationalists, Lithuanian-American Mission, Lithuanian-American Council, Association for Liberating Lithuania, Lithuanian-American Congress of 1945, Antanas Olis, Kazys Karpius, Pijus J. Žiūris, Povilas Žadeikis, Leonardas Šimutis, Pijus Grigaitis. [From the publication]

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