Ernst Jaakson Way: New York City Honors Estonian Diplomat who Embodied Principle that Force Alone Can’t Destroy a State

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 19 – This week, New York City designated a portion of Manhattan’s 34^th Street Ernst Jaakson Way, thereby posthumously honoring an Estonian diplomat who embodied the principle that force alone is not sufficient to destroy a state if its people and the leaders of the international community refuse to accept such actions.

            Jaakson (1905-1998) joined the Estonian foreign service at the age of 14 as a translator for the Estonian ambassador in Riga and then worked as a diplomat in the United States, first as a consular official and near the end of his life as ambassador to the US and permanent representative to the United Nations.

            Many recall him as the longest-serving diplomat in the history of the world, but his most important role came between 1940 when Stalin, on the basis of a deal with Hitler, illegally occupied Estonia and its Baltic neighbors and 1991 when Estonia recovered the de facto independence to add to the de jure independence it had never lost.

            That achievement was made possible not only by American non-recognition policy, which insisted throughout the period of occupation that the US did not recognize the forcible incorporation of the Baltic countries by the Soviet Union and the actions of Estonian officials abroad like Mr. Jaakson, as he was invariably known, who continued to serve.

            Many viewed non-recognition policy as a cold war strategy, but in fact, it had its roots in American refusal to recognize Japanese occupation of northeastern China in 1930 and was promulgated in 1940 long before the cold war began. And it is a principle that continues to echo in the world.

            During his years as the representative of a government which no longer existed but of a people and country that always sought freedom, Mr. Jaakson maintained diplomatic contacts with Washington and other capitals and helped the Estonian diaspora by handing out what came to be known as Jaakson Passports.

            The author of these lines had the honor and the pleasure to meet with him on numerous occasions in the final years of that occupation and afterwards when I worked on Baltic issues at the US Department of State. There are many stories I could tell but three seem to be especially indicative of Mr. Jaakson’s qualities.

            First, his mission continued to operate with money from accounts held in the US that continued to belong to the Republic of Estonia. Mr. Jaakson took his stewardship of these funds very seriously and worked hard to keep his spending as low as possible – including choosing hotels in Washington where he could get a double discount – as someone over 70 and a diplomat.

            Second, he worked closely with the two other Baltic heads of mission in the US, Dr. Anatols Dinbergs of Latvia and Stasys Lozoraitis of Lithuania. Often, they spoke more than he did at meetings; but Mr. Jaakson almost always gave the last word in talks with US officials, speaking with the kind of authority that his years of service made possible.

            And third, Mr. Jaakson was always focused on his main task which was the survival of the Estonian nation and the recovery of de facto independence. That sometimes brought him into conflict with more nationalistic Estonians who did not want to explore all the possibilities that existed to do so.

            One of the chief roadblocks to the recovery of de facto Baltic independence by early 1991 was that while the Latvian and Lithuanian missions in the US were in close contact with the governments in place in Riga and Latvia, Mr. Jaakson’s Estonian mission was not because of opposition in the Estonian diaspora to any contact with what they called “little red Estonia.”

            That was overcome when as the result of talks between Mr. Jaakson and Arnold Ruutel, who acted as president of Soviet-occupied Estonia. Ruutel acknowledged that many statements put out in his name including attacks on Estonians abroad did not reflect his views, and Mr. Jaakson published in Estonian media abroad why it was critical to build bridges to Tallinn.

            Because of that, the Estonian mission in the US moved into a relationship with Tallinn that meant that when the recovery of de facto independence became possible during the coup in Moscow, there was no light between the three and thus no basis for those in the West who did not want to spark the demise of the USSR by supporting the Baltic countries.

             The wisdom Mr. Jaakson showed in these and many other ways was thus something that had far-reaching consequences. He and they should be remembered by everyone, and we can only be grateful for New York City for naming a street block near the Empire State building where his consulate as for many years and near the Estonia House where emigres gathered.

            (For background on Mr. Jaakson’s career, see washington.mfa.ee/ernst-jaakson/. For what New York City has done, see news.err.ee/1609861746/new-york-s-34th-street-block-named-after-estonia-s-most-distinguished-diplomat and estonianworld.com/life/ernst-jaakson-way-new-york-honours-estonias-longest-serving-diplomat/.)