Lithuania–United States relations

A Lithuanian poster from 1922 celebrating the recognition of Lithuania by the United States.

The United States established diplomatic relations with Lithuania on 28 July 1922. Following the start of the World War II, the Soviet invasion and occupation forced the closure of the Legation to Lithuania on 5 September 1940. However, Lithuanian Diplomatic Service in the United States continued uninterrupted. The United States never recognized the forced incorporation of Lithuania into the USSR and views the present government of Lithuania as a legal continuation of the interwar republic. In 2007, the United States and Lithuania celebrated 85 years of continuous diplomatic relations. Lithuania has enjoyed most-favored-nation treatment with the United States since December 1991. Since 1992, the United States has committed more than $100 million in Lithuania to economic and political transformation and to humanitarian needs. The United States and Lithuania signed an agreement on bilateral trade and intellectual property protection in 1994 and a bilateral investment treaty in 1997. In 1998, the United States signed a "Charter of Partnership" with Lithuania and the other Baltic countries establishing bilateral working groups focusing on improving regional security, defense, and economic issues.[3]

Today, over 650,000 individuals who identify as Lithuanian American live in the United States. Lithuanian immigration began before the United States even became a country, with individuals like Alexander Curtius settling in New Amsterdam (what would later become New York City) in 1659. Lithuania was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1795, when foreign powers partitioned it and Lithuania was largely incorporated into the Russian Empire. Despite attempts by the Tsarist government in Moscow to prevent residents of the empire from emigrating, many Lithuanians came to the United States throughout the 19th and early 20th Centuries, settling primarily in the Northeast (especially Pennsylvania) and the Midwest. Lithuanian immigration tapered off with the passage of nativist legislation like the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924 in Congress. Smaller waves of Lithuanian migration to the United States occurred at the end of World War II (thanks to the Displaced Persons Act) and when Lithuania regained its independence in 1990.

In November 2002, George W. Bush became the first US president to visit Lithuania.[4] It was a visit following the NATO invitation to join the alliance.

In July 2023, Lithuania hosted 2023 Vilnius summit, receiving the US President Joe Biden along with around 40 other leaders. During the visit, President Biden gave a speech in Vilnius University.[6]

Embassy of Lithuania on 16th Street NW in Washington, D.C., circa 2023

Principal U.S. officials include:

• Ambassador—Deborah McCarthy[7]
• Deputy Chief of Mission—Anne Hall
• Political and Economic Section Chief—John M. Finkbeiner Jr.
• PAO—Jonathan M. Berger
• Defense Attaché—Jeffrey L. Jennette
• Defense Cooperation Officer—Cynthia A. Matuskevich
• Management Officer—Alboino L. Deulus
• Consular Officer—Anthony T. Beaver

The U.S. Embassy in Lithuania is located in Vilnius (Akmenu 6).

Principal Lithuanian officials include:

• Ambassador - Rolandas Kriščiūnas[8]
• Executive Assistant to the Ambassador - Eglė Janeliūnaitė
• Deputy Chief of Mission - Tomas Gulbinas

• 
  President Gitanas Nausėda and President Joe Biden during the 2023 Vilnius summit
• 
  President George W. Bush and President Valdas Adamkus
• 
  US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė
• 
  Vice President Kamala Harris met with Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė to celebrate 100 years of diplomatic relations between US and Lithuania
• 
  US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken meets with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis
• 
  Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III hosts Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anušauskas
• 
  Lithuanian Armed Forces training together with the US Armed Forces

• Lithuanian Americans
• Foreign relations of the United States
• Foreign relations of Lithuania

 This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.

• Alilunas, Leo J, ed. (1978). Lithuanians in the United States: selected studies. R & E Research Associates. ISBN 9780882474878. OCLC 4005548.
• Budreckis, Algirdas (1976). The Lithuanians in America, 1651-1975: A Chronology and Fact Book. Oceania Publications. OCLC 164038424.
• Gedmintas, Aleksandras. “Lithuanians.” In American Immigrant Cultures: Builders of a Nation, Vol. 2, edited by David Levinson and Melvin Ember, (Macmillan, 19970 pp 588–96..
• Granquist, Mark A. "Lithuanian Americans." in Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 3, Gale, 2014), pp. 111–127. Online
• Kuzmickaitė, Daiva Kristina. Between Two Worlds: Recent Lithuanian Immigrants in Chicago (1998–2000). (Vilnius: Versus Aureus, 2003).
• Kelly, Mary E (1996). Born again Lithuanians : ethnic conversions and pilgrimages and the resurgence of Lithuanian-American ethnic identity. University of Kansas. OCLC 35004843.
• Senn, Alfred Erich; Eidintas, Alfonsas (Spring 1987). "Lithuanian Immigrants in America and the Lithuanian National Movement before 1914". Journal of American Ethnic History. 6 (2): 5–19. JSTOR 27500524.
• "Lithuanians" in Thernstrom, Stephan, Ann Orlov and Oscar Handlin, eds. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (1980) Online

• History of Lithuania - U.S. relations

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Relations of Lithuania and the United States.

• Embassy of the United States
• Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the USA