Description:

John F. Kennedy
Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 1954
Kennedy Seeks to Help Lithuanian World War II Refugees
TLS
Fine content typed letter signed as Massachusetts Senator, one page, 8" x 10.5", Washington, Feb. 10, 1954. Kennedy writes on his Senate letterhead to Anthony O. Shallna, the Lithuanian Consul of Boston, regarding a request from Lithuanian refugees who wish to remain in the United States. With the original envelope bearing a stamped franking signature, fine condition.

Kennedy writes, in part: "Recently, Mr. Anthony Daukantas of 90 Mellville Ave., Dorchester, contacted me and requested that I introduce a bill in the Senate for the relief of Mr. and Mrs. Ceslovas Daukantas and their daughter, Marija-Ingeborga, who are desirous of remaining in the United States. If you are able to submit to me detailed information, as well as supporting documents…I shall be happy to give same every consideration and advise you of my decision…".

Ceslovas Daukantas was a World War II refugee who was able to immigrate to the United States in 1949 due to the Displaced Persons Act, which allowed more than 30,000 Lithuanians in Western Europe to immigrate to the U.S., along with other groups.

This was not the first contact Kennedy had had with the Daukantas family: on October 3, 1949, Kennedy, then a Member of Congress for the 11th congressional district in Boston, received a letter from Ceslovas Daukantas regarding his brother Adolph, a displaced person living in a sanatorium during his recovery from tuberculosis. According to the John F. Kennedy Library, Daukantas sought Kennedy's help to have him transferred to a hospital in the American Zone.

Two years later, on August 14, 1951, Henry Cabot Lodge presented bill number S.2009 requesting relief for Daukantas and his family, which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. The outcome of these appeals is not known.

Kennedy's commitment to the issue of immigration is summed-up by the following remark given at a meeting of the National American Jewish Congress in New York, Nov, 17, 1957: "I would like to see us give preference to those who are refugees from religious or political persecution, or who have found conditions of residence in their country intolerable – those whose frustrating, poverty-stricken existence in a refugee camp only serves to feed the mills of Communist propaganda."

Anthony Oswald Shallna (1894-1971) served during WWII at Camp Hancock as a Second Lieutenant in the Ordnance Dept., and was named Honorary Lithuanian Consul of Boston in 1939.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8" x 10.5"
  • Medium: TLS

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