Kazys Pakštas (; June 29, 1893 – September 11, 1960) was a Lithuanian political theorist and professor of geography, the pioneer of professional geography in Lithuania. He is best known for his political works on Dausuva and Baltoscandia.
Life and career
Early life and education
Pakštas was born to a farming family. He was the godson of a famous Lithuanian National Revival activist and priest, Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas. From an early age Pakštas was fierce, militant and deeply patriotic: he despised the Russian czar and wanted to overthrow him and is known to have participated in the illegal distribution of Lithuanian publications. In 1908, he finished Užpaliai Elementary School and went to Kaunas, where he worked at a printing house. In 1912, he passed the exams of six high school classes as an external student at St Catherine Gymnasium in Saint Petersburg. From 1912 to 1913, Pakštas studied at the Kaunas Priest Seminary but dropped out soon after. Following this, he briefly worked as a pharmacist in Birštonas.
1914–1925: Travels abroad
In 1914, Pakštas travelled to the United States, Indiana, where he enrolled in Valparaiso University in 1915. In the fall of the same year, however, he left and began studying sociology and politics at Loyola University instead. He later transferred to the Faculty of Sociology at Fordham University in New York, where he graduated in 1918.
In 1919, after returning to Lithuania, he worked as a liaison officer in the military missions of France, the United States and England. From 1919 to 1923, Pakštas studied natural sciences at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and defended his doctoral thesis, Climate of Lithuania. In 1923, after returning to the US, he was an editor for Lithuanian newspapers in Boston and Draugas in Chicago. In 1924, he married his wife Ona Visiliūtė in Worcester, Massachusetts.
1925–1939: Return to Lithuania
Invited by the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy of the University of Lithuania in 1925, Pakštas returned to Lithuania in autumn and taught various disciplines of geography. In 1925, he became an associate professor and in 1929 a professor. In 1931, he was transferred to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences as head of the geography department. From 1928 to 1931, he would teach geography at the University of Latvia.
Pakštas was a traveller – he visited Brazil in 1927, Palestine and the USSR in 1933. From 1930 to 1931, he went on an expedition around Africa with the purpose of finding a suitable territory for a Lithuanian colony, which would serve as a semi-independent state for Lithuanians in case of a potential threat in their homeland. He visited almost all European countries. However, Pakštas focused on his scientific work as well: he determined the climatic zones of Lithuania and started doing systematic research on lakes.
He distinguished himself as one of the most active founders of various public organizations. Since 1926 Pakštas was a member of the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science while in 1939 he was elected as an academic member. From 1930 to 1940, he was Commander-in-Chief of the Future Federation. In 1934, Pakštas organized the Society of Lithuanian Geographers and was its chairman until 1940.
Pakštas also worked on building relations with countries abroad. From 1933 to 1939, he headed the Lithuanian–Swedish Society and from 1934 to 1939 he also served as vice-chairman for the Lithuanian–American Society; he belonged to the Lithuanian–French as well as Lithuanian–Swiss societies. He also participated in the establishment of the Political Club, the Lithuanian Western Union, the founding committee of the Lithuanian Catholic University, and the Romuva society. In 1938, some Lithuanian public figures such as Professors Stasys Šalkauskis and Steponas Kolupaila even urged him to become a presidential candidate for President of Lithuania.