Lietuvos valdžios pastangos telkti JAV lietuvius 1939 m. rugsėjo 1-1940 m. birželio 15 d

LTPrasidėjus Antrajam pasauliniam karui Baltijos šalyse suaktyvėjusi Tarybų Sąjunga kėlė jų nepriklausomybei pavojų. Lietuvos vyriausybė, suprasdama sunkią savo padėtį, tikėjosi materialinės ir propagandinės JAV lietuvių paramos. Tačiau pirmiausia reikėjo sutelkti išeiviją, susiskaldžiusią į skirtingas ideologines sroves - katalikus, tautininkus-sandariečius, socialistus. Tik JAV lietuviai komunistai nebuvo dėmesio centre. Straipsnyje bandoma aptarti Lietuvos diplomatinių atstovų (pasiuntinio ir konsulų) pastangas - įvairius būdus ir siūlymus - sutelkti išeivijos patriotines jėgas į politinio pobūdžio bendrąjį organą. Istoriniuose šaltiniuose tas vadintas Amerikos lietuvių „bendru organu“ arba „bendruoju organu“, vėliau jis bus įvardytas Amerikos lietuvių taryba. Atskleidžiamos srovių vadovų nuotaikos ir požiūris į bandymą juos suvienyti bendrai politinei veiklai. Pagrindinės kliūtys - srovių tarpusavio nesutarimai, skirtingas požiūris į tautininkų valdžią Lietuvoje, nestipri išeivijos ekonominė padėtis, tautinės srovės susiskaldymas ir pan. Parodomos užsienio reikalų ministro J. Urbšio ir pasiuntinio P. Žadeikio pozicijos išeivijos telkimo klausimu. Nors sutelkti tuo metu ir nepavyko, buvo padėti pagrindai būsimiems srovių susitarimams ir susivienijimui.

ENOn October io, 1939, Lithuania and the Soviet Union signed a mutual assistance pact under which Vilnius and its surrounding territory were transferred to Lithuania in exchange for the deployment of numerous Soviet troops within the country. The Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Juozas Urbšys, instructed the Lithuanian envoy in Washington, Povilas Žadeikis, to unite all American-Lithuanian political organisations into a common body, later called the Lithuanian American Council. The Lithuanian government was experiencing increasing political and military pressure from the Soviets and, sensing a threat to the country’s independence, sought political and material support from Lithuanian emigrants. Their help was needed to expose the real intensions of Moscow with regard to Lithuania. But it was first necessary to unite the scattered diaspora of Lithuanian emigrants in the USA as they were split into diverse and often ideologically incompatible groups such as Catholics, Nationalists and members of the society Sandara and Socialists. Only the joint efforts of the ėmigrėes could muster the financial resources and political clout needed to help Lithuania. Povilas Žadeikis held meetings with influential ėmigrė leaders until late November in an attempt to establish such a “common body”. However, unifying the emigrants was no easy matter. In his reports to Juozas Urbšys, Povilas Žadeikis provided clear reasons for the causes of miscommunication between the emigrant leaders: disagreements among the various ideological groups; conflicting attitudes toward the Lithuanian government of the Nationalist Union; economic weakening o f emigrant political organisations; splits within the nationalist groups; and an overall loss of national identity among Lithuanian emigrants.On December 9-10, 1939, a conference of Lithuanian representatives (the envoy Povilas Žadeikis, Consul General Jonas Budrys, Consul General Petras Daužvardis and Honorary Consul Antanas Šalna), initiated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, Juozas Urbšys, was held in Washington to discuss the necessity o f establishing a common body and the conditions and obstacles for its creation. The conference discussed these issues in great detail and drew the conclusion that only the American Lithuanians themselves, through their leaders and organisations, could decide how to establish such a body. Lithuanian representatives were unanimous in their approach and explained to the emigrant leaders the pressing need for such a body. They tried to convince them to take the initiative and were forthcoming with advice. Žadeikis proposed to the leaders of the participating organisations to form a steering group, comprised of their delegated representatives, which could form a common political body. He suggested a few options for the composition of the group that would reflect the influence each of them had in the emigrant community. But the Catholics demanded the majority, the Socialists wanted equal representation with the Catholics, while the Nationalists and representatives of the society Sandara insisted they should predominate in the proposed body. Having witnessed first hand all these conflicting opinions, the envoy to Lithuania concluded that a common political body might only be formed when Lithuania was faced with disaster. As it was currently impossible to mobilize the leaders of various emigrant groups for joint action, the envoy tried to bring emigrants together through apolitical organisations or societies.He suggested that joint committees be established to aid Lithuanians in the Vilnius region, as the issue of Vilnius was a common concern for all emigrants, irrespective of their ideological views. Eventually, committees comprising representatives of mixed ideologies were formed in various Lithuanian expatriate communities (in Chicago, Detroit and elsewhere). These committees were to serve as the basis for a political body for all American Lithuanians which was to be formed in the future. However, this happened only after the de facto occupation of Lithuania.