Letter from Members of the National Council of the Lithuanian American Community of the United States National Council to President Gerald R. Ford Regarding Legislation to Establish a Commission to Monitor the Terms of the Helsinki Accords

4 Lietuviais esame mes gimę, Lietuviais turime ir but! JUNGTINIU amerikos valstybiu LIETUVIU BENDRUOMENES TARYBA GENERAL LITHUANIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY OF UNITED STATES, INC. FG431 NATIONAL COUNCIL C087 January 31, 1976 FORD PREZIDIUMAS ALGIS RUGIENIUS The Honorable Gerald R. Ford þirmininkas President of the United States 30717 / und Drive The White House file LIBRARY Warren, Mich. 48093 (313) 573-9418 Washington, D.C. 20500 JONAS URBONAS Mr. President: tubretorius 1418 W Elmwood Ave. Clawson, Mich. 48017 February 16, 1976 marks the fifty-eighth anniversary of the reestab- (313) 135.4786 lishment of independent Lithuania and the 725th anniversary of the founding of the Lithuanian State. ROBERTAS SELENIS vicepirmininkas We invite you to join with your fellow Americans of Lithuanian origin 31532 Groesbeck Rd. Fraser. Mich. 48026 and descent who will commemorate these anniversaries. Since the signing of (313) 293-4611 the Final Act of the Conference on Security, there has been no diminution of the Soviet Union's relentless program of Russification and religious and political persecution within Lithuania. The Soviet Union's actions in the suppression of the "Chronicle of the Lithuanian Catholic Church" by arresting and imprisoning untold numbers of Lithuanian and Russian dissidents for publishing or disseminating the chronicle, as well as the lack of humanitarian concern shown for the reunification of families, are only the latest in a continuing series of. the repression of basic human rights within Soviet-occupied Lithuania to reach the Western World. Currently there are Bills in Congress which propose the establishme of a Commission to monitor the acts of the signatories which reflect compliance with the articles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security -and Cooperation in Europe, with particular regard to the principles relating to Cooperation in Humanitarian Fields. We strongly urge yourdiligent support of these Bills and the estabe lishment of this Commission as a means to further demonstrate your own just concern that the provisions of the Helsinki Act be kept, and that all people will be the beneficiaries of that Conference. During the Bicentennial year as we celebrate the independence of America let us not forget that the self-evident truths of our founding fathers dear to the Lithuanian. people as they are to us, Sincerely, Algis Rugienius Jonoz (libamas Jonas Urbonas RECEIVED Chairman Secretary 1976 CENTRAL FILES