Valdas Adamkus (Lithuanian:[ˈvɐ̂ˑɫdɐsɐˈdɐmˑkʊs]ⓘ; bornVoldemaras Adamkavičius; 3 November 1926)[2] is a Lithuanian politician, diplomat and civil engineer who served as the fifth and seventhpresident of Lithuania from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2004 to 2009.
Adamkus' first tenure as president lasted for five years, from 26 February 1998 to 26 February 2003, following his defeat byRolandas Paksas in the 2003 presidential election. Paksas was later impeached and removed from office by a parliamentary vote on 6 April 2004. Soon afterwards, when a new election was announced, Adamkus again ran for president and was re-elected. His approval ratings increased during this period[3] and become a highly regardedmoral authority in the state.[4] He was succeeded as president on 12 July 2009 byDalia Grybauskaitė. He is considered by some as being one of the best Lithuanian leaders in modern history.[5]
He was married toAlma Adamkienė, who was involved in charitable activities in Lithuania. Following the end of his term as president, Adamkus remained involved in international development, and is a member of the European Academy of Diplomacy.
Valdas Adamkus was born on 3 November 1926 into aRoman Catholic family inKaunas. He was originally given the name "Voldemaras Adamkavičius" but had it changed to "Valdas Adamkus" in 1955.[6] His father was one of the first heads of the Lithuanian Air Force School in theRepublic of Lithuania. His uncle wasEdvardas Adamkavičius, who was a general in theLithuanian Armed Forces during theinterwar period.[7] During his youth, Adamkus was interested in track and field. He also set the national record for running 100 meters.[8]
As a young man, Adamkus joined the underground resistance against the firstSoviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940. Under the Nazi occupation, while attending high school, he distributed an anti-German underground newspaper. In 1944, as the Soviets were invading Lithuania for a second time in four years, he fought against the second occupation by joining theFatherland Defense Force, which was crushed by the numerically superior Soviet forces. He and his family fled Lithuania in order to avoid the second Soviet occupation.[9]
In 1972, Adamkus visited Lithuania for the first time in almost thirty years. He was a member of the official delegation from the United States attending an environmental conference in Moscow. Asperestroika took root in the Soviet Union, Adamkus's visits to his homeland became more frequent. Valdas Adamkus served as regional administrator of the EPA for sixteen years, and retired in 1997, after twenty-nine years of service. Upon his retirement, he received a congratulatory letter fromPresident Clinton and a Distinguished Career Award from EPA AdministratorCarol Browner. EPA Region 5 presented him with the newly established "Valdas V. Adamkus Sustained Commitment to the Environment Honor Award".
Shortly after leaving the EPA, Valdas Adamkus moved back to Lithuania. Soon after his decision to run for presidency in 1998, he faced a legal battle in the Lithuanian courts. Doubts arose whether Adamkus was eligible to run for the presidency due to having spent over half a century abroad, raising the possibility that he might not meet minimum residency requirements. However, the court resolved the case in Adamkus' favor, and no other obstacles remained other than his U.S. citizenship, which heofficially renounced at the American Embassy inVilnius.[11] He was elected as President of Lithuania in 1998, defeatingArtūras Paulauskas in the runoff, serving from then until 2003, when he ran for re-election, but was unexpectedly defeated byRolandas Paksas.
He returned to politics after the presidential scandal of 2003 and 2004, when his former rival Paksas was impeached and removed from office. In thefirst round of the 2004 election, held on 13 June 2004, Adamkus securing 30% of the vote – more than any other candidate. Paksas could not run for office again, because a ruling fromLithuania's Constitutional Court disallowed him from running for public office and he was, therefore, unable to register as a candidate. A runoff election was held on 27 June 2004, which Adamkus won with about 52% of the votes againstKazimira Prunskienė. By 2009, he had served the two presidential terms permitted by theConstitution of Lithuania and was succeeded as president byDalia Grybauskaitė.
In 2003, Valdas Adamkus was namedUNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Construction of Knowledge Societies. The Director-General of UNESCO,Koïchiro Matsuura, noted that Adamkus was named as Ambassador "in recognition of his dedication to the Organization's aims and ideals and with a view to benefiting for the construction of knowledge societies from his wisdom and extensive experience in many of UNESCO's areas of concern, in particular promotion of social development, cultural diversity, dialog and international cooperation."[12]
Under his second administration, Lithuania actively promoted democracy in the formerly Soviet Eastern European and Asian nations. President Adamkus, together with PresidentAleksander Kwaśniewski,Javier Solana,Boris Gryzlov andJán Kubiš, served as a mediator duringUkraine's political crisis, when two candidates in the 2004 presidential election,Viktor Yanukovych andViktor Yushchenko, each claimed victory. President Adamkus recalled in an interview that "when I asked what we could do to help,Kuchma said the friends of the Ukrainian people should drop whatever they were doing and come to Kiev immediately.".[13] The next day international mediators met in Ukraine. The crisis was resolved after a new election was held.
Valdas Adamkus and his Estonian counterpartArnold Rüütel rejected an invitation to participate in a commemorative celebration of the end of World War II in Europe in 2005. President Adamkus expressed the view that the war's end, in Lithuania, marked the beginning of a fifty-year Soviet occupation and repression. In response, on 22 July, theUnited States Congress unanimously passed a resolution that Russia should "issue a clear and unambiguous statement of admission and condemnation of the illegal occupation and annexation by the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991 of the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania",[14] but Russia refused.
President Adamkus supports an active dialog betweenEuropean Union member states and former Soviet republics such asGeorgia,Ukraine, andMoldova, that are actively seeking membership in the EU. He expressed support for these candidate members during theCommunity of Democratic Choice in 2005, at theVilnius Conference 2006, and on several other occasions.
Valdas Adamkus is an Honorary Member of The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
Valdas Adamkus enjoyed a very high approval rating in Lithuania. He was also recognized for the second time for his support of Lithuanian youth. President Adamkus was actively involved in government reorganizations in 2004 and 2006. In his 2006 State of the Nation address,[15] Adamkus stated that his top priorities were:
Increasing public participation in the political realm
Targeted and transparent use of the EU funds and opportunities for building a greater well-being in Lithuania
Reforms in public governance, education and science, social support and health care
The development of professional competence among civil servants, especially in assessing regulatory impacts
In 1951, Adamkus marriedAlma Nutautaite. They had no children. They funded the manufacturing and installment of the largest bell ofKaunas Carillon which weights 751 kg.[16] Nutautaite died in May 2023 at the age of 96.[17]
On 3 January 2025, Adamkus was hospitalized at theVilnius University Hospital Santaros Klinikos in Vilnius after experiencing a "worsening" cardiac condition.[18] Nine months later, in late September, Adamkus was hospitalized again for an infection.[19]
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