JOSEPH KAZICKAS: ODYSSEY OF HOPE

The story of a Lithuanian immigrant's escape from communism to freedom in America and the return to his beloved homeland.
"... always pursue the maximum possible outcome in a situation ...". The statement is made by the former member of the resistance movement in Lithuania during the Second World War, a refugee in Germany, an immigrant to United States of America, a former academic and above all, a dedicated fighter for the independence of Lithuania:
Dr. Joseph P. Kazickas. The spirit in working was needed to manage what he has done
in business, in politics, and to assist in making the occupied country Lithuania a free country. He has met the all, the American Presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald W. Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, William J. Clinton and George W. Bush.
All of them were told about the situation of his beloved country. The aim of the contacts were to make the country independent from the occupation made by the Soviet Union. A man of patience he is who has had this dream for so many years. The book : " Odyssey of Hope " is a personal report of his life. It is the story of a man
who never forgot the most important aim of his work: To make Lithuania a free country. He could have been a remote academic in USA or a selfish businessman with limited interests making more money for the rich. No. He was qualified for being a good businessman making many personal contacts with people working for the America government. He succeed in combining business matters with a sense of social responsibility missing to-day among those who are responsible for the development of finance of USA the last years. To make it possible to change the economic system in
Lithuania - transferring the economy of Lithuania from centralized planning to a free market system - he hired two experts from USA: Howard University Professor Lawrence Summers and Professor Andrei Shleifer from the University of Chicago. A splendid action. My question is: Why are we not doing this more often asking teachers
working for the elite universities to make the world better setting up plans for countries who are not doing well for the time being and so we all could join the programme improving the life standard for many poor people? A challenge to the castles of knowledge: The elite universities. Joseph Kazickas knew how it was to be poor. He knew very well how to live in fear in an occupied country. Access to education was the key to his progress. In year 1941 he received BA in Economics from the university of Vilnius, Lithuania. Thesis: " Collectivization of he Lithuanian Agriculture " and in 1951, Ph.D. from Yale University Graduate School. Thesis: " Sovietization of the Czechoslovakian Economy ". But he left the academic world to make it private business- and that is also an interesting story. Read the book and you will learn how hard he worked. You learn a lot by reading the book about how to communicate the men with different political opinions never to forget the main aim of making the contacts: Making a better life for the people of Lithuania. " ...always pursue the maximum possible outcome in a situation ..." but
you must add: It is time consuming and the cost is a problem. But the wish to make
a change to support millions of people - it is worth the cost and the work - so far
Dr. Joseph P. Kazickas - Business Leader and a philanthropist with office in New York
and Vilnius. Nice to read that a Norwegian is mentioned assisting setting up private companies in the country: Tore Bu is working for the Coca Cola Company.
By reading the personal report - " Odyssey of Hope " I understand the political problems of Lithuania and the problems of Latvia and Estonia too. I found the book in book shop in Vilnius last year during the annual conference of The Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council (BAAC). I searched for a book contenting positive attitudes to the development of the Baltic countries due to the many negative reports published the last ten years of my work for the audiovisual archives of the countries. A good book - I do recommend the book.