Welles Declaration on Baltic States

Date: July 23, 1940 • Location: Moscow, Russia

Sumner Welles, U.S. Under Secretary of State, issued a declaration that the U.S. government would not recognize the Soviet Union's annexation of the Baltic states.

Benjamin Sumner Welles III was an American government official and diplomat. He was a major foreign policy adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary of State from 1937 to 1943, during Roosevelt's presidency.