United States House Select Committee to Investigate Communist Aggression and the Forced Incorporation of the Baltic States into the U.S.S.R.

The Select Committee to Investigate Communist Aggression and the Forced Incorporation of the Baltic States into the U.S.S.R., also known as the Kersten Committee after its chairman, Rep. Charles J. Kersten was established in 1953 to investigate the incorporation 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.

Background

In 1940, in accordance with the secret protocol of the 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 electing solely communists to be represented in the parliament of each country's government, and those governments then were instructed by Moscow to petition the Soviet government to be added as constituent republics of the USSR.

The United States, like other Western democratic powers, such as the United Kingdom, Norway, France, and Denmark, never recognized this incorporation as valid and continued to accredit the legations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. On June 23, 1940, Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles declared the United States' non-recognition policy on the principles of the Stimson Doctrine. This policy was maintained until the restoration of independence in all three countries in 1991.

Investigation

In 1953, the House of Representatives passed House Resolution 346 calling for a special investigation into the incorporation of the Baltic States into the U.S.S.R. The House Select Baltic Committee was established July 27, 1953, to oversee the investigation which was chaired by Charles J. Kersten.

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 Černius, 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 Soviet politicians Andrei Zhdanov and Andrey Vyshinsky.

Significance

The significance of the Kersten Committee was primarily related to the United States' 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 United States 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 United States House of Representatives to replace the Baltic Committee with the Select Committee on Communist Aggression, which continued to operate until December 31, 1954.

Bibliography

Baltic States Investigation, 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)