A joint resolution designating June 14, 1985, as "Baltic Freedom Day".
PL 99-49 (S.J.Res.66), enacted 06/13/1985

PUBLIC LAW 99-49—JUNE 13, 1985 
99 STAT. 87 
Public Law 99-49 
99th Congress 
Joint Resolution 
Designating June 14,1985, as "Baltic Freedom Day". 
Whereas the people of the Baltic Republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and 
Estonia have cherished the principles of religious and political 
freedom and independence; 
Whereas the Baltic Republics have existed as independent, sov-
ereign nations belonging to and fully recognized by the League of 
Nations; 
Whereas the people of the Baltic Republics have individual and 
separate cultures, national traditions, and languages distinctively 
foreign to those of Russia; 
Whereas the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) in 
1940 did illegally seize and occupy the Baltic Republics and by 
force incorporate them against their national will and contrary to 
their desire for independence and sovereignty into the U.S.S.R.; 
Whereas the U.S.S.R. since 1940 has systematically removed native 
Baltic peoples from their homelands by deporting them to Siberia 
and caused great masses of Russians to relocate in the Baltic 
Republics, thus threatening the Baltic cultures with extinction; 
Whereas the U.S.S.R. has imposed upon the captive people of the 
Baltic Republics an oppressive political system which has de-
stroyed every vestige of democracy, civil liberties, and religious 
freedom; 
Whereas the people of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania find them-
selves today subjugated by the U.S.S.R., locked into a union they 
deplore, denied bsisic human rights, and persecuted for daring to 
protest; 
Whereas the U.S.S.R. refuses to abide by the Helsinki accords which 
the U.S.S.R. voluntarily signed; 
Whereas the United States stands as a champion of liberty, dedi-
cated to the principles of national self-determination, human 
rights, and religious freedom, and opposed to oppression and 
imperialism; 
Whereas the United States, as a member of the United Nations, has 
repeatedly voted with a majority of that international body to 
uphold the right of other countries of the world, including those in 
Africa and Asia, to determine their fates and be free of foreign 
domination; 
Whereas the U.S.S.R. has steadfastly refused to return to the people 
of the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, the right to 
exist as independent republics separate and apart from the 
U.S.S.R. or permit a return of personal, political, and religious 
freedoms; and 
Whereas the U.S.S.R. conscripts Estonians, Latvians, and Lithua-
nians into the Soviet Armed Forces compelling them to serve in 
Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Cuba: Now, therefore, be it 
June 13, 1985 
[S.J. Res. 66] 
99 STAT. 88 
PUBLIC LAW 99-49—JUNE 13, 1985 
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the Congress of the 
United States recognizes the continuing desire and the right of the 
people of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia for freedom and independ-
ence from the domination of the U.S.S.R. and deplores the refusal of 
the U.S.S.R. to recognize the sovereignty of the Baltic Republics and 
to yield to their rightful demands for independence from foreign 
domination and oppression and that the fourteenth day of June 
1985, the anniversary of the mass deportation of Baltic peoples from 
their homelands in 1941, be designated "Baltic Freedom Day" as a 
symbol of the solidarity of the American people with the aspirations 
of the enslaved Baltic people and that the President of the United 
States be authorized and requested to issue a proclamation for the 
observance of Baltic Freedom Day with appropriate ceremonies and 
activities. 
Approved June 13, 1985. 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S.J. Res. 66: 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 131 (1985): 
May 3, considered and passed Senate. 
June 11, considered and passed House.