Bronius Kazys Balutis (1880–1967) was a Lithuanian diplomat. He worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania in 1919–1928 and was involved in many of the major international negotiations of the period. He was the Lithuanian envoy to United States (1928–1934) and to the United Kingdom (1934–1967).
With the help of his uncle, Catholic priest Juozas Židanavičius, Balutis graduated from a teachers' seminary in Skępe (Poland) and a school for land surveyors in Pskov (Russia). He was drafted for the Russo-Japanese War but decided to escape to the United States where his uncle had founded a Lithuanian parish in Amsterdam, New York. In the United States, Balutis worked as a cartographer at Rand McNally for six years and as editor of the Lithuanian weekly for seven years. He joined the cultural life of Lithuanian Americans and was a member of the (SLA) and chairman of the Association of Lithuanian Patriots ().
Balutis started his diplomat career when he was delegated to represent Lithuanian Americans at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The delegation was recalled in December 1919 and Balutis was offered a job dealing with "particularly important matters" at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kaunas. Balutis was involved in negotiating essentially every major international agreement in the difficult post-war years. He was involved in negotiating the Latvia–Lithuania border and the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty of July 1920. During the Polish–Soviet War, Balutis was a member of the Lithuanian delegation that concluded the Suwałki Agreement of October 1920 with Poland. After Poland staged the Żeligowski's Mutiny and captured Vilnius Region, Balutis represented Lithuania at the mediation efforts by the League of Nations. When Lithuania staged the Klaipėda Revolt in January 1923 and captured Klaipėda Region, Balutis and Vaclovas Sidzikauskas negotiated the Klaipėda Convention which was concluded in May 1924.
Though Balutis sympathized with the Lithuanian Nationalist Union, he stayed away from party politics and survived many cabinet changes at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was offered the post of the Minister of Foreign Affairs at least three times, including during the coup d'état of December 1926, but he refused. Pushed by Prime Minister Augustinas Voldemaras, Balutis agreed to join the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service and become the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States in 1928. In 1934, he was reassigned as the envoy to the United Kingdom. When Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, the Lithuanian diplomats refused to accept the new Soviet rule and continued to represent independent Lithuania thus preserving the legal continuity of the Lithuanian state. Balutis continued his duties as the Lithuanian envoy until his death in 1967.
Biography
Early life and education
Balutis was born on though later in life Balutis always indicated that he was born on 29 December 1879. He was the eldest surviving child (an older sister died in infancy). His parents were educated and his first cousin once removed was painter Antanas Žmuidzinavičius. His birth record recorded his surname both in Polish (Balewicz) and in local Dzūkian dialect (Baliucis); he started consistently using Balutis when he moved to the United States.
He attended a primary school in Ūdrija for five years. Balutis' uncle Juozas Židanavičius, a Catholic priest, took Balutis to Skępe (Wymyślin) where he was teaching at a pedagogical seminary. With uncle's help, Balutis graduated from the pedagogical seminary with distinction in 1898. After the graduation, Balutis worked as a teacher in the Płock district and helped his brother to attend the same seminary. In 1901, Balutis applied to a school for land surveyors in Pskov and graduated in 1904. He was drafted to the Russo-Japanese War but decided to escape to the United States where his uncle Židanavičius had founded a Lithuanian parish in Amsterdam, New York.
Balutis arrived to the United States in February 1905 and lived with his uncle. In early 1906, Balutis enrolled into the Valparaiso University which provided introductory English courses, charged low tuition fees, and provided an opportunity to cover some of the tuition by manual labor. Therefore, it was a favorite university among the newly arrived Lithuanian Americans who struggled with English and with finances. Balutis studied English and calculus used in civil engineering. He joined a Lithuanian student society and became its chairman. The university agreed to establish a two-hour daily class on the Lithuanian language and, when the first lecturer left for another job, Balutis became the teacher.