Arnold Rüütel, ‘a Washington for Estonia,’ Dead at Age of 96

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Jan. 1 – Yesterday, at the age of 96, Arnold Rüütel passed away, He served as a senior official in the Estonian SSR during the occupation and later, in a variety of roles, including president of the Estonian Republic, played a key role in helping his country recover its rightful place in the world as part of the West.
    In reporting his death, Postimees noted that he had “not a few supporters and ill-wishers,” with many in both camps focusing only on one aspect of his public activities and ignoring the others (rus.postimees.ee/8161935/bolshaya-galereya-umer-eks-prezident-arnold-ryuytel-tyazheloves-i-dolgozhitel-estonskoy-politiki).
    Many Estonians, especially in the emigration, could never forgive him for statements issued in his name attacking them and defending the Soviet Union; while many others, never forgave him for his role in ending the occupation of Estonia and leading his country into NATO and the European Union.
    That divide has prevented many from seeing him as a man in full.  But that is changing and I believe will continue to change.  Almost a decade ago, I was asked to write a comment about his life for a book Peeter Ernits put together (Viimane Rüütel (Tallinn, 2017). I entitled my submission “A Washington for Estonia.”
    In it, I pointed out that it typically takes three kinds of people to make a successful national revolution, the philosophers who explain why it is necessary, the firebrands who lead the people to make it possible, and the members of the ancien regime who recognize the justice of the pursuit of revolutionary goals and make their institutionalization possible.
    Not surprisingly, in the US and almost all other cases, the philosophers and the firebrands get the better press at least initially. Their stories are more unambiguous and easier to tell, and they dominate the initial histories of the revolution. But over time, it becomes obvious that it is often officials who rose in the old regime but changed sides who are the more important.
    Arnold Rüütel was neither a philosopher nor a firebrand and so he has often been more criticized and less appreciated that those who were one or the other or even in some cases both. But with time, his role as a bridge who made the passage from the old to the new possible is being recognized. I believe that trend will continue.
    For more than 30 years, I have been proud to count myself his admirer and friend. I will miss him; and I believe that as time passes, ever more people will come to recognize just how enormous his contribution was however contradictory it has sometimes been presented..