Janis Cakste
Encyclopedia
Jānis Čakste was a Latvia
n politician
and lawyer
who served as the first head of independent Latvia
n state as the Chairman of Tautas Padome
(1918–1920), the Speaker
of the Constitutional Assembly
(1920–1922), and as the first President of Latvia (1922–1927).
district, the son of a farmer. He received the primary education in Anna Primary School, and entered the Courland Governorate
Gymnasium in Jelgava
, where he participated in student "evenings" advocating for Neo-Latvian ideals. After finishing it in 1882, he entered the law school of the Moscow University. While studying in Moscow, Čakste founded a local Latvian Student Society in 1883 from which later became the academic fraternity "Austrums" and actively participated in the activities of the local Latvian community along with Krišjānis Valdermārs and Fricis Brīvzemnieks. Čakste graduated in 1886 and returned to Jelgava.
he collaborated on a project of creating Latvian national autonomy within the Russian Empire
.
In 1906 he was elected to the First State Duma of the Russian Empire
where he joined the liberal Constitutional Democratic Party
. When the latter was dissolved by the emperor, Čakste was one of its 166 members who signed the so-called Vyborg Manifesto
calling for the non-violent resistance to the czarist regime. As a result he was arrested together with other former Duma members and, after the trial, served three months in prison.
In 1915 Čakste moved to Tartu
where he co-founded the Central Committee on Latvian Refugee
Affairs and in 1917 became its chairman. In 1915 Čakste organized a demonstration to honour Major General Aleksey Potapov, the commanding officer of the defense of Jelgava, who later became one of the advocates of the formation of the Latvian Rifles. In 1917 Čakste departed for the United States
on a tour to propagate the idea of Latvian independence, but the trip was cut short in Stockholm
with the news of the Russian Revolution. In Stockholm he published a pamphlet Die Letten und ihre Latvia: Eine lettische Stimme, where he declared that “the Latvian nation wants to…achieve…its freedom with certainty to lead in Latvia its own national, cultural, and economic development.”
In the fall of 1917 Čakste worked in the foreign department of the Provisional Latvian National Council where he prepared the addresses to foreign governments protesting against the German occupation of Baltic territories. On November 17, 1918 at the first session of the Latvian Tautas Padome
, conceived as a representative body of the new Latvian state, Čakste was elected its chairman in absentia, as he was at his country home at the time. While informed of his election, he did not manage to arrive in time for the declaration of Latvian independence the next day, and the act was announced by the Vice-Chairman, Gustavs Zemgals
.
In 1919 Čakste traveled to the Paris Peace Conference
, establishing relations with the foreign state representatives, even attempting to draft a request for reparations from Germany – which did not receive support from the Entente
states. Only on July 13, 1919 he returned to Latvia and assumed his duties as the Chairman of Tautas Padome. While undertaking his responsibilities as a statesman, Čakste continued teaching at the law school of the newly founded University of Latvia
. In November 1919 he was given a rank of full professor, but in 1924 – the degree Dr. jur. honoris causa.
deputy Rainis
. Two years later, at the first session of the first Saeima
of Latvia on November 7, 1922 Čakste was elected unopposed as the first President of the new state with 92 votes of Saeima members against 6 – the highest number of votes ever given in Latvian presidential elections. As President, Čakste’s responsibilities were largely ceremonial, even though he continued to pay close attention to the foreign affairs, especially to the position of the young European state in the world. During his tenure, he proclaimed 402 laws, sent three laws back to Saeima for a review, pardon
ed 549 people. He caused some controversy in 1926 when he pardoned a prominent writer and a former head of the rival pro-German puppet government Andrievs Niedra
, who was serving his sentence for state treason. However, Čakste also insisted on Niedra’s leaving the country after the pardon.
For the presidential elections of 1925, Čakste’s name was proposed by his Democratic Center party, while Rainis was put forward by Social Democrats and Ulmanis – by Latvian Farmers' Union
. In the first round, the incumbent president finished third, with 29 votes, against 33 for Rainis and 32 for Ulmanis. When Social Democrats decided to withdraw Rainis’ candidacy, Čakste won the elections with 60 votes.
Jānis Čakste died on March 14, 1927 before the expiration of his second three-year term, and was buried at the Forest Cemetery in Riga. He is the only President of Latvia to die in office.
He was married to Justine Čakste, born Vesere, and they had nine children. His son, Junior Lieutenant Visvaldis Čakste, died from wounds received in the defence of Jelgava
in 1915. His another son, Konstantīns Čakste (1901–1945), a lawyer
like his father, became one of the leaders of Latvian national resistance during World War II
and the Chairman of the Latvian Central Council
, set up in February 1943 as the underground
Latvian national government. Konstantīns Čakste was arrested by Gestapo
and died in the concentration camp in February 1945.
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
n politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who served as the first head of independent Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
n state as the Chairman of Tautas Padome
Tautas Padome
Tautas padome or People's Council of Latvia was a temporary council which declared Latvia's independence in 1918 and then acted as a temporary parliament until a Constitutional Assembly was elected....
(1918–1920), the Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
of the Constitutional Assembly
Constitutional Assembly
The Constitutional Assembly was a body elected in 1955 to draw up a permanent constitution for the Republic of Indonesia. It sat between November 10, 1956 and July 2, 1959...
(1920–1922), and as the first President of Latvia (1922–1927).
Youth
Čakste was born in the Lielsesava parish of the JelgavaJelgava
-Sports:The city's main football team, FK Jelgava, plays in the Latvian Higher League and won the 2009/2010 Latvian Football Cup.- Notable people :*August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein - linguist, folklorist, ethnographer...
district, the son of a farmer. He received the primary education in Anna Primary School, and entered the Courland Governorate
Courland Governorate
Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland, Governorate of Kurland , and Government of Courland , was one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, that is now part of the Republic of Latvia....
Gymnasium in Jelgava
Jelgava
-Sports:The city's main football team, FK Jelgava, plays in the Latvian Higher League and won the 2009/2010 Latvian Football Cup.- Notable people :*August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein - linguist, folklorist, ethnographer...
, where he participated in student "evenings" advocating for Neo-Latvian ideals. After finishing it in 1882, he entered the law school of the Moscow University. While studying in Moscow, Čakste founded a local Latvian Student Society in 1883 from which later became the academic fraternity "Austrums" and actively participated in the activities of the local Latvian community along with Krišjānis Valdermārs and Fricis Brīvzemnieks. Čakste graduated in 1886 and returned to Jelgava.
Career and entry into politics
After finishing the university, he worked at the attorney’s office of Courland Governorate and, from 1888, as a lawyer in Jelgava. Since 1889 he edited the newspaper “Tēvija” which became one of the most widely read Latvian newspaper in Courland. In 1895 he became one of the chief organizers of the 4th All-Latvian Song Festival in Jelgava, and partially financed the event. In the course of the Russian Revolution of 1905Russian Revolution of 1905
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies...
he collaborated on a project of creating Latvian national autonomy within the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
.
In 1906 he was elected to the First State Duma of the Russian Empire
State Duma of the Russian Empire
The State Duma of the Russian Empire was a legislative assembly in the late Russian Empire, which met in the Taurida Palace in St. Petersburg. It was convened four times between 1906 and the collapse of the Empire in 1917.-History:...
where he joined the liberal Constitutional Democratic Party
Constitutional Democratic party
The Constitutional Democratic Party was a liberal political party in the Russian Empire. Party members were called Kadets, from the abbreviation K-D of the party name...
. When the latter was dissolved by the emperor, Čakste was one of its 166 members who signed the so-called Vyborg Manifesto
Vyborg Manifesto
The Vyborg Appeal was a declaration issued by Kadets and Trudoviks politicians, former deputies of the disbanded Russian First State Duma on July 9, 1906....
calling for the non-violent resistance to the czarist regime. As a result he was arrested together with other former Duma members and, after the trial, served three months in prison.
In 1915 Čakste moved to Tartu
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university. Situated 186 km southeast of Tallinn, the...
where he co-founded the Central Committee on Latvian Refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
Affairs and in 1917 became its chairman. In 1915 Čakste organized a demonstration to honour Major General Aleksey Potapov, the commanding officer of the defense of Jelgava, who later became one of the advocates of the formation of the Latvian Rifles. In 1917 Čakste departed for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on a tour to propagate the idea of Latvian independence, but the trip was cut short in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
with the news of the Russian Revolution. In Stockholm he published a pamphlet Die Letten und ihre Latvia: Eine lettische Stimme, where he declared that “the Latvian nation wants to…achieve…its freedom with certainty to lead in Latvia its own national, cultural, and economic development.”
In the fall of 1917 Čakste worked in the foreign department of the Provisional Latvian National Council where he prepared the addresses to foreign governments protesting against the German occupation of Baltic territories. On November 17, 1918 at the first session of the Latvian Tautas Padome
Tautas Padome
Tautas padome or People's Council of Latvia was a temporary council which declared Latvia's independence in 1918 and then acted as a temporary parliament until a Constitutional Assembly was elected....
, conceived as a representative body of the new Latvian state, Čakste was elected its chairman in absentia, as he was at his country home at the time. While informed of his election, he did not manage to arrive in time for the declaration of Latvian independence the next day, and the act was announced by the Vice-Chairman, Gustavs Zemgals
Gustavs Zemgals
Gustavs Zemgals was a Latvian politician and the second President of Latvia....
.
In 1919 Čakste traveled to the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
, establishing relations with the foreign state representatives, even attempting to draft a request for reparations from Germany – which did not receive support from the Entente
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
states. Only on July 13, 1919 he returned to Latvia and assumed his duties as the Chairman of Tautas Padome. While undertaking his responsibilities as a statesman, Čakste continued teaching at the law school of the newly founded University of Latvia
University of Latvia
University of Latvia is a university located in Riga, Latvia. Being established in 1919, University of Latvia is the biggest university in the Baltic states.-History:...
. In November 1919 he was given a rank of full professor, but in 1924 – the degree Dr. jur. honoris causa.
First head of state of an independent Latvia
After the first free elections to the Constitutional Assembly of Latvia, Čakste was elected its Speaker on May 1, 1920, thus again assuming the role of the provisional head of Latvian state. His runner-up in the elections was a renowned poet and Social DemocratLatvian Social Democratic Workers' Party
The Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party is a centre-left, social democratic party in Latvia. It has a long history but is not represented in the current parliament of Latvia.-History:...
deputy Rainis
Rainis
Rainis was the pseudonym of Jānis Pliekšāns was a Latvian poet, playwright, translator, and politician. Rainis' works include the classic plays Uguns un nakts and Indulis un Ārija , and a highly regarded translation of Goethe's Faust...
. Two years later, at the first session of the first Saeima
Saeima
Saeima is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the popular vote. Elections are scheduled to be held once every four years,...
of Latvia on November 7, 1922 Čakste was elected unopposed as the first President of the new state with 92 votes of Saeima members against 6 – the highest number of votes ever given in Latvian presidential elections. As President, Čakste’s responsibilities were largely ceremonial, even though he continued to pay close attention to the foreign affairs, especially to the position of the young European state in the world. During his tenure, he proclaimed 402 laws, sent three laws back to Saeima for a review, pardon
Pardon
Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
ed 549 people. He caused some controversy in 1926 when he pardoned a prominent writer and a former head of the rival pro-German puppet government Andrievs Niedra
Andrievs Niedra
Andrievs Niedra was a Latvian writer, Lutheran pastor and the Prime Minister of the German puppet government in Latvia between April and June 1919, during the Latvian War of Independence.Niedra's first collection of poems was published...
, who was serving his sentence for state treason. However, Čakste also insisted on Niedra’s leaving the country after the pardon.
For the presidential elections of 1925, Čakste’s name was proposed by his Democratic Center party, while Rainis was put forward by Social Democrats and Ulmanis – by Latvian Farmers' Union
Latvian Farmers' Union
The Latvian Farmers' Union is a centrist agrarian political party in Latvia. Founded in 1917, it was the most influential right-wing political party between the two World Wars, during the period of Latvian independence from the Russian SFSR in 1918 until its annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940,...
. In the first round, the incumbent president finished third, with 29 votes, against 33 for Rainis and 32 for Ulmanis. When Social Democrats decided to withdraw Rainis’ candidacy, Čakste won the elections with 60 votes.
Jānis Čakste died on March 14, 1927 before the expiration of his second three-year term, and was buried at the Forest Cemetery in Riga. He is the only President of Latvia to die in office.
He was married to Justine Čakste, born Vesere, and they had nine children. His son, Junior Lieutenant Visvaldis Čakste, died from wounds received in the defence of Jelgava
Jelgava
-Sports:The city's main football team, FK Jelgava, plays in the Latvian Higher League and won the 2009/2010 Latvian Football Cup.- Notable people :*August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein - linguist, folklorist, ethnographer...
in 1915. His another son, Konstantīns Čakste (1901–1945), a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
like his father, became one of the leaders of Latvian national resistance during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the Chairman of the Latvian Central Council
Latvian Central Council
The Latvian Central Council was the pro-independence Latvian resistance movement during World War II in 1943-1945. Its military units were an alternative to the Soviet partisans also operating in Latvia....
, set up in February 1943 as the underground
Underground
Underground most commonly refers to:* The regions beneath the surface of the EarthUnderground may also refer to:-Places:* London Underground, a rapid transit system* The Underground , a Christian-affiliated concert venue...
Latvian national government. Konstantīns Čakste was arrested by Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and died in the concentration camp in February 1945.