[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 11 (Thursday, February 12, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H490]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     SALUTE TO LITHUANIAN AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Fawell) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FAWELL. Mr. Speaker, I simply want to take this occasion, along 
with my colleague from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus), to extend my best wishes 
to Lithuanian Americans all across this land. And most especially, I 
would extend those warm regards to the Lithuanian Americans who are in 
the 13th Congressional District back in Illinois, a district that I 
have had the honor of representing here in Congress for 13, going on 14 
years. I would also especially like to mention the fact that a 
constituent of mine by the name of Valdas Adamkus, Val Adamkus as we 
have known him, from Hinsdale, Illinois, and, believe it or not, has 
been elected the President of Lithuania.
  Val Adamkus is quite a tremendous person. He came from Lithuania. He 
is still a Lithuanian citizen, obviously holding dual citizenship 
between this country and also in Lithuania. He was a part of the 
fighting force that resisted the Soviet invasion.
  Actually, before the Nazis came in World War II, the Soviet Union had 
taken over and taken away the liberty of the Lithuanian people which 
they had gained in 1920. But after the Soviet Union came in after World 
War II, Val Adamkus came to this country, got a degree at the Illinois 
Institute of Technology in Chicago, went on to quite an able career. 
And just recently, after retiring from a distinguished career with the 
Federal EPA, at the age of 71, he decided that he might want to go into 
politics and traveled back to his homeland in Lithuania, gradually 
became involved in politics, and now will be sworn in as President of 
Lithuania on February 26.
  But over the years of my tenure in Congress, I have often attended 
Lithuanian Independence Days at the World Lithuanian Center in Lemont, 
Illinois. I have learned to have a deep and abiding respect for the 
Lithuanian Americans and their deep, deep desire, especially when I 
first was in Congress, for freedom and democracy to come back to 
Lithuania. I felt then that it was perhaps decades away.
  And every year I was invited to the Lithuanian World Center, where I 
came to have so many dear friends in the Lithuanian community. As a 
result I grew to recognize what their culture was, danced a few of 
their polkas, got to know these people and their deep desire to finally 
once again see the birth of freedom in Lithuania. And lo and behold, 
perestroika finally came and ultimately, in February of 1991, I recall 
there was a declaration of independence by the Lithuanian people. And 
at that particular February gathering, in regard to Lithuanian 
Independence Day, we had an awful lot of people in my district who shed 
in tears of joy because freedom had finally come to their native land. 
There have been ups and downs since then. And truly a remarkable thing 
has occurred, when an American who has dual citizenship, as I have 
indicated, has been elected the President of Lithuania.
  So my very, very best regards to Val Adamkus and his wife Alma and to 
the Lithuanian people in my district. They have a great heritage. And 
we look forward to a rebirth of freedom and all the knowledge of the 
American democratic ways which Val Adamkus has, being brought to the 
Presidency of Lithuania.

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