Lietuvos ordinų ir medalių teikimo JAV lietuviams politika 1927–1940 metais
The Policy of Awarding Orders and Medals to American Lithuanians in 1927 - 1940

Summary/Abstract: Coup d’état of 1926 set many Lithuanians in emigration against the Nationalist government. In order to regain emigrants’ respect and confidence, Lithuanian authorities decided to use one from many means, i. e. to award the most active representatives of Lithuanians in emigration, who contributed significantly to the restoration of independence and cultural development, with orders and medals such as the Order of Vytautas the Great, the Order of Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas or Šaulių Žvaigždės. The negative attitude of American Lithuanians (Catholics, Socialists, etc) towards these state awards forced the government to change its plans and solve this problem gradually: till 1931 these awards were not bestowed on Lithuanians residing in America; in the period of 1931–1936 the so-called temporary plan was introduced, i. e. the representatives of older generations of emigrants were awarded, especially to commemorate their age or activity jubilees. An attempt was made to award medals to the representatives of opposition, especially priests. In 1937– 1940, the number of people who received awards and their political spectrum expanded significantly – awards were bestowed both on ordinary members and leaders from various political organizations, the editors of their newspapers, etc. Only Socialists made an exception. All in all, officially American Lithuanians were awarded over hundred Orders and medals; some of them received the Medal of Lithuania’s Independence (Lietuvos nepriklausomybės medalis). However, we do not possess exact data concerning their number; we are only aware of the fact that in four cases medals were not accepted. Lithuania’s representatives in the USA Bronius K. Balutis, Povilas Žadeikis, Mikas Bagdonas, P. Daužvardis, Antanas Kalvaitis, Jonas Budrys very carefully made the lists of the candidates for awards, took into consideration proposals of various organizations and individual activists, collaborated with candidates themselves to make sure whether they were willing to accept decorations, and made appropriate recommendations to the Lithuanian authorities. However, this did not prevent from some cases of dissatisfaction and misunderstandings among Lithuanian emigrants in America either because of candidates appointed or the degree of decoration. Lithuanian representatives tried to avoid such misunderstandings which could have deepened the opposition between emigrants, on the one hand, and Lithuanian authorities, on the other hand, as well among American Lithuanians themselves. To sum up, the above discussed policy of awarding Orders and medals could be viewed positively; activist who propagated Lithuanian culture and social life were remembered and evaluated; as a result, they became stronger supporters and defenders of Lithuania.

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