Former Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus to Turn 100 on 3 November

Valdas Adamkus, a former president of Lithuania, will turn 100 on 3 November. The anniversary is noted in a column in the Latvian daily Latvijas Avīze by commentator Kārlis Streips, who was born in the United States. He points out that US congressional elections take place the same day, while in Latvia the newly elected parliament, chosen in the 15th Saeima elections, holds its first sitting.

Life story

Adamkus was born on 3 November 1926 under the name Voldemaras Adamkavičius, which he changed in 1955. His father was among the first heads of the Lithuanian Air Force school. In 1944 the family left Lithuania to avoid Soviet occupation, spent time in a displaced-persons camp in Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1949.

In America he earned a bachelor's degree in engineering in 1961 and in 1970 became one of the first employees of the US Environmental Protection Agency. In 1981 President Ronald Reagan appointed him a regional administrator. He retired in 1997, moved to Lithuania and won the 1998 presidential election in the second round, after a dispute over whether someone who had spent decades in exile could run; a court ruled in his favour.

After his first term he lost to Rolandas Paksas, who was later impeached. Adamkus won again in 2004. The column notes his active role in Ukraine's 2004 election crisis, when he joined a delegation to Kyiv, and his refusal to travel to Moscow for commemorations of the end of the Second World War. After leaving office in 2009 he supported the EU accession of Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova.

Adamkus married Alma Nutautaitė in 1951; they had no children. Streips notes that health problems have affected him in recent years.

Author's opinion

The column also contains the author's personal views on US politics, which may differ from the newspaper's editorial position.