1951 m. JAV įsikūrusioje Lietuvių studentų sąjungoje (LSS) greitai išsiskyrė dvi tarpusavyje konkuruojančios studentų grupės: ateitininkai ir vadinamieji nepriklausomieji. Nepriklausomų studentų grupė susikūrė kaip atsvara gerai organizuotiems ateitininkams ir savo gretose bandė suburti įvairių pažiūrų, skirtingų ideologinių organizacijų demokratinio-liberaliojo sparno akademinį jaunimą. Jų skelbtos tolerancijos, nepriklausomos minties, humanizmo, liberaliojo sparno lietuvių jaunimo organizacijų bendradarbiavimo idėjos sulaukė jaunimo palaikymo; nepriklausomų studentų grupės kūrėsi įvairiuose universitetiniuose miestuose. Nepriklausomieji kurį laiką neturėjo formalios organizacijos, 1953 m. pasivadino Nepriklausomų studentų sąjūdžiu (NSS), o 1954 m. buvo įkurta visas nepriklausomųjų grupes vienijanti organizacija – „Lietuvių studentų santara“. Straipsnyje, remiantis publikuotais ir archyviniais šaltiniais, analizuojami Nepriklausomų studentų sąjūdžio genezės, narystės, veiklos klausimai. Didelis dėmesys skiriamas nepriklausomų studentų persiorganizavimui 1954 m. – „Lietuvių studentų santaros“ įkūrimui ir naujos organizacijos santykiams su Akademiniu skautų sąjūdžiu

The article briefly introduces US American politician, politician, lawyer Antanas Olis (1898-1958) and publishes two of his speeches to American Lithuanians: May 21st, 1949 speech at the inaugural congress of the American Lithuanian National Union (ALTS), and the last speech by Antanas Olis, broadcast on “Margutis” radio in the occasion of February 16th in 1958. Olis’s words are distinguished by tolerance, liberalism, and the promotion of the fundamental principles of freedom. Some of the problems raised by Olis nearly seventy years ago are still relevant today: how to stay a Lithuanian in a foreign land and not dissolve into a sea of strangers, how to entice young people to Lithuanian community activities, how to communicate between generations and interests, how to find balance between being a Lithuanian and a citizen of another country.

The article is dedicated to Antanas Olis (1898–1958), a Lithuanian American public and political figure, lawyer. It analyses the key moments of his life and activities, his influence in the political, public and cultural life of the émigré community. The article investigates the activities of Antanas Olis after Lithuania’s occupation by the Soviets when he actively joined political activities and made a special contribution in organising and participating in various political campaigns which sought to bring up the issue of Lithuania among Americans. Through his ties with Americans and his work in the national Republican Party group, Olis won his way to the broader horizons of the US politics in the attempt to draw attention to the case of the freedom of Lithuania.

Lithuanian Independence Alliance, an organization called Lietuvos nepriklausomybės talka (LNT) in Lithuanian, was founded in 1955 in the emigration and joined together four influential political forces: the Lithuanian National Alliance (tautininkai), the Lithuanian Freedom Fighters’ Union, Resistance Union of Lithuanian, and the Lithuanian Rebirth Movement. This new organization was active in the late 1950s and early 1960s when émigré institutions actively competed with each other for reasons of ideological partisanship and because of personal and group disagreements on how best to promote the Lithuanian cause. Initially LNT was created in opposition to the central Lithuanian political organization known as the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (VLIK). But gradually it turned to other activities, primarily attending to the study of developments in Lithuania itself. This article analyzes the circumstances that brought LNT into existence, its activities, and its relations with other organizations. In 1964, LNT together with its component organizations joined the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania.