Jānis Čakste

Who is Jānis Čakste?

Jānis Čakste was a Latvian lawyer, statesman, and the first President of the Republic of Latvia. Born the son of a farmer in Lielsesava parish, Courland Governorate, he studied law at Moscow University, graduating in 1886, and founded a Latvian Student Society there that grew into the academic fraternity "Austrums." Returning to Jelgava, he worked as a lawyer and, from 1889, edited the widely read newspaper "Tēvija," while helping organize the 1895 All-Latvian Song Festival. Elected to the First State Duma of the Russian Empire in 1906, he joined the liberal Constitutional Democratic Party and was among the signatories of the Vyborg Manifesto opposing the tsarist dissolution of the Duma. During the First World War he helped lead relief efforts for Latvian refugees in Petrograd and campaigned abroad for Latvian independence. In 1918 he was elected chairman of the Latvian People's Council and led delegations to London and the Paris Peace Conference to secure international recognition for the new Latvian state. On 7 November 1922 the first Saeima elected him unopposed as Latvia's first President, a post he held until his death in office in Riga on 14 March 1927, the only Latvian president to die while serving.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Janis Čakste" · Wikipedia, "Jānis Čakste" · Saeima (saeima.lv), "Jānis Čakste"