Dollars, diplomacy, and dignity: United States economic involvement in Lithuania, 1914-1940

ENUnfortunately, not much has been written regarding U.S.-Balticpolitical and commercial relations between the two world wars. With a substantial Baltic-American community, which already had been quite active in lobbying for relief and diplomatic recognition of the Baltic States following World War I, the United States also emerged as a major contender in economic development of the Baltic region during the 1920s and 1930s. In particular, many within the Lithuanian-American community strove, often with the help of U.S. government officials, to interest American businesses in developing trade with Lithuania. Despite the initial enthusiasm of those pushing for stronger American-Lithuanian commercialties, however, most such efforts were frustrated by the same political uncertainties and credit problems that plagued Anglo-Baltic commercial efforts. Nevertheless, a closer look at how Americans and Lithuanians negotiated economic development in the Baltic region throughout the interwar period can provide a more complete understanding of how the Baltic States perceived their newly independent status and how they balanced the issue of sovereignty with more pragmatic concerns over economic development. While Lithuania certainly needed foreign credit and investment to rebuild a viable sovereign state, evidence shows that Lithuanian officials used what leverage they had to ensure that such arrangements would be on terms suitable both to Lithuania's economic needs and to its sense of national identity and self-reliance. [p. 154].

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