Executive Order 8484, issued on July 10, 1940, by U.S. PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, was one of a series of amendments toExecutive Order 8389.[1][2]
Order 8389, issued on April 10, 1940, had frozen Norwegian and Danish financial assets held in the U.S., following their occupation byNazi Germany duringWorld War II. Order 8484 extended the same protection to the assets ofEstonia,Latvia, andLithuania after theiroccupation and annexation by theSoviet Union.[3]
By virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 5(b) of the Act of October 6, 1917 (40 Stat.411, as amended), and by virtue of all other authority vested in me, I, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, do hereby amend Executive Order No. 8389, as amended, so to extend all the provisions thereof, and with respect to, property in which Latvia, Estonia, or Lithuania or any national thereof has at any time on or since July 10, 1940, had any interest or any nature whatsoever, direct or indirect.[1]
The Soviet government condemned the freezing of theBaltic states' assets, asserting that there was no legal basis for suspending the transfer.[4]: 35 Sumner Welles, actingSecretary of State, addressed the objection in a statement:
The attempt to transfer the gold belonging to the Banks ofLithuania,Latvia, andEstonia was made at a time when it had become apparent that the governments and peoples of those countries were being deprived of freedom of action by foreign troops which had entered their territories by force or threats of force.[4]: 35
In conjunction with theWelles declaration, Executive Order 8484 and its enforcement by the Treasury Department offered both immediate and long-term benefits to the Baltic states.[4]: 42
{{cite book}}:|author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Whereas on July 15, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order No. 8484, which froze Baltic assets in the United States to prevent them from falling into Soviet hands
