Antanas Smetona was a Lithuanian intellectual, journalist and politician who served as the first president of Lithuania from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1926 until the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940. Referred to as the "Leader of the Nation" during his presidency, Smetona is recognised as one of the most important Lithuanian political figures between World War I and World War II, and a prominent ideologists of Lithuanian nationalism and the movement for national revival.
Antanas Smetona
Smetona as a student of the university's Faculty of Law
Smetona portrait taken in Vilnius before the World War I
Smetona (first right from center) in the Council of Lithuania
The president of the Republic of Lithuania is the head of state of the Republic of Lithuania. The president directs and appoints the executive branch of the Government of Lithuania, represents the nation internationally and is the commander-in-chief of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. The president is directly elected by the citizens of Lithuania for a five-year term, with the office holder limited to serving two terms consecutively. The current president is Gitanas Nausėda who assumed office on July 12, 2019.
President of Lithuania
Image: Antanas Smetona 2
Image: Aleksandras Stulginskis (1885 1969)
Image: Kazys Grinius
