When, at 71, he decided to run in Lithuania’s 1998 presidential election, he cited wanting to rid the country of corruption and old Soviet ways and gain closer ties to the West. He told The Associated Press at the time that “a generation grew up in a strict one-party state, was told what to do and what not to do. I am bringing experience of openness and individual initiative, which is unknown in this society for 50 years.”
But he had to overcome two obstacles.
The first was getting a court’s approval to run for president, as there was a residency requirement. Even though he’d obtained his Lithuanian citizenship again in 1992, he had lived in the U.S. for most of his life.
The second hurdle was convincing his wife Alma to move.
“She was very, very strongly against that idea,” he says.
His wife, who died at 95 in 2023, wanted a quiet retirement filled with travel and hobbies. But supporters in Lithuania were pressing him to run, and he says he became convinced he should try.
“I have to admit that a lot of tears were shed about my decision,” he says. “But finally I can say that Alma was such a good soldier.”
He ran as an independent and won by a margin of about 14,000 votes. Adamkus credited diaspora voters in the Chicago area with helping him eke out his first victory.
He lost reelection in 2003 to Rolandas Paksas, who was later impeached and removed after a corruption scandal involving a Russian businessman and campaign funder.
Adamkus was reelected in June 2004, serving until 2009.
An excerpt from the second half of the article: