1950s US House select committee
The
Select Committee to Investigate Communist Aggression and the Forced Incorporation of the Baltic States into the U.S.S.R.
,
[1]
also known as the
Kersten Committee
after its chairman,
U.S. Representative
Charles J. Kersten
was established in 1953 to investigate the
annexation
of
Estonia
,
Latvia
, and
Lithuania
into the
Soviet Union
. The committee terminated March 4, 1954, when it was replaced by the Select Committee on Communist Aggression.
[2]
Background
[
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]
In 1940, in accordance with the secret protocol of the 1939
Molotov?Ribbentrop Pact
with
Nazi Germany
, the
Soviet Union
directed the occupation and subsequent annexation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In each country, demands were made under threat of force from Moscow for
puppet
communist governments to be formed.
Fraudulent elections
were held in July 1940 with solely
communists
being represented in the parliament of each country's government. Those governments then were instructed by Moscow to
petition
the
Soviet government
to be added as constituent
Soviet republics
.
The
United States
, like other
Western
democratic
powers, such as the
United Kingdom
,
Norway
,
France
, and
Denmark
, never recognized the incorporation as valid and continued to accredit the legations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. On June 23, 1940,
U.S. Secretary of State
Sumner Welles
declared the American non-recognition policy
on the principles of the
Stimson Doctrine
. The policy was maintained until the 1991
restoration of independence in all three countries
.
Investigation
[
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]
In 1953, the House of Representatives passed House Resolution 346 calling for a special investigation into the incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union. The House Select Baltic Committee was established on July 27, 1953, to oversee the investigation, which was chaired by
Charles J. Kersten
.
[2]
The
select committee
held hearings between November 30 and December 11, 1953, and reported its findings in February 1954. During the investigation, the Baltic Committee interviewed approximately 100 witnesses including Johannes Klesment, a former Estonian government official;
Jonas ?ernius
, the former
prime minister of Lithuania
;
Juozas Brazaitis
, the
acting foreign minister of Lithuania
; and former
President of the United States
Herbert Hoover
, all of whom provided testimony and additional information about Soviet activities in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in 1940.
Among those accused of crimes during the Baltic occupation process were the Soviet politicians
Andrei Zhdanov
and
Andrey Vyshinsky
.
[3]
Significance
[
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]
The significance of the Kersten Committee was primarily related to the U.S. non-recognition policy of the Soviet incorporation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. However, the investigation at the time was seen as a way for the
U.S. Congress
to better study the manner in which the Soviet Union was able to direct the seizure of power in foreign countries. Specifically, the investigation coincided with United States involvement in the
Korean War
and was seen by investigators as a way of studying communist methods that could be used in better articulating policy related to that conflict. Continued interest in the subject led the
U.S. House of Representatives
to replace the Baltic Committee with the Select Committee on Communist Aggression, which continued to operate until December 31, 1954.
[2]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
United States. Congress. House. Select Committee on Communist Aggression (1972).
Report of the Select Committee to Investigate Communist Aggression and the Forced Incorporation of the Baltic States in to the U.S.S.R.: Third interim report of the Select Committee on Communist Aggression, House of Representatives, Eighty-third Congress, second session, under authority of H. Res. 346 and H. Res. 438
. W.S. Hein & Co.
- ^
a
b
c
Walter Stubbs (1985),
Congressional Committees, 1789-1982: A Checklist
, Greenwood Press, pp. 11, 27
- ^
The Iron Heel
,
Time Magazine
, December 14, 1953
Sources
[
edit
]
- Hearings Before the Select Committee to Investigate the Incorporation of the Baltic States into the U.S.S.R.
,
83rd United States Congress
, First Session, Under Authority of H. Res. 346, Part I (1954)