„Dear President Valdas Adamkus, your life and work, and the extraordinary drama of your life, have become part of the history of the entire nation. In your youth, your love for your homeland led you down the path of anti-Soviet and anti-Nazi resistance. Alas, you had to witness the catastrophe of the occupations with your own eyes and experience the pain of losing your country for generations. Yet even after leaving Lithuania, you remained in Lithuania at heart. Your entire life in the USA and your professional work was dedicated to ensuring that Lithuania would be free once more. For, unlike many members of the diaspora, you were firmly convinced that you would live to see the day when the tricolour would fly over Lithuania once more,“ reads Nausėda’s message of congratulations.
„After half a century, having gained unique experience and wisdom in the free world, you returned to your homeland to make a particularly significant contribution to the creation of a free Lithuania. Elected twice as President of the Republic of Lithuania, you steadfastly led our reborn state along the path to establishing itself within the Western community,“ the message emphasises.
The Head of State thanked Adamkus for his dedication to Lithuania, his loyalty to the Fatherland and the example he set through his political career, demonstrating that politics can be a noble service to the state and its people.
„President Valdas, I thank you for showing Lithuania, having shaken off the shackles of occupation, that the building of the state and serving the people whilst holding political office can be guided by idealism and a desire for civic harmony. For bearing witness that politics is, at its core, a noble pursuit. Your dedication and steadfast love for Lithuania, your wise and noble demeanour, and your authority have had, and continue to have, a profound influence on countless people, including myself,“ the message reads.
Nausėda wished the outgoing president good health, energy, and moments of light and joy in his daily life.
ELTA notes that Adamkus was born on 3 November 1926 in Kaunas.
During the war, he was involved in resistance activities. In July 1944, he fled to Germany with his parents. Whilst studying at the Lithuanian grammar school in Eichstätt, he met his future wife, Alma. He later studied at the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Munich. In 1949, he arrived in the US and, in the 1970s, became actively involved in politics; he was invited to work for the newly established US federal environmental protection agency – the Environmental Protection Agency. The future Lithuanian leader played an active role in the social and political life of the Lithuanian diaspora.
Adamkus was first elected president in 1998. In that election, he defeated former Prosecutor General Artūras Paulauskas.
In 2003, he sought re-election but lost to Rolandas Paksas in the second round. After Paksas was removed from office through impeachment, Adamkus won the snap election in 2004 and led the country until 2009.