With the long summer break starting as Jaanipäev arrived, the conference followed a day after a U.S. Embassy event celebrating July 4, Independence Day, and also examined U.S. relations with Latvia and Lithuania.

After the introductions and a presentation of a commemorative postage stamp issued by Omniva/Eesti Post to mark the event, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who grew up in New Jersey and was President of Estonia 2006-2016, gave the keynote speech at the conference.

This was followed by a panel discussion adroitly moderated by Prof. Andres Kasekamp of the University of Toronto and featuring Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jonatan Vseviov, also a former Estonian ambassador to the U.S,, Chargé d'affaires Brian R. Roraff, the highest-ranking U.S. diplomat currently based in Estonia, Kristjan Prikk, the current Estonian Ambassador to the United States and, via a pre-recorded video link message, former U.S .Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker.

After lunch, academic panels featured Kaarel Piirimäe, Associate Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Tartu and co-author of a collection dedicated to the centennial and entitled The American Century. A Hundred Years of Relations Between the United States and Estonia, Dr Mart Kuldkepp (UCL), Dr Giedrius Janauskas (Vytautas Magnus, Kaunas), Prof. Olavi Arens (Georgia Southern University), Prof. Daunis Auers (University of Latvia) and Andris Banka (University of Greifswald).

The event was co-organized by the U.S Embassy in Tallinn and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and can be re-watched, or indeed watched for the first time, here, or by clicking on the video link above.

The foreign ministry also carries archival photographs and documents from the history of diplomatic relations between Estonia and the U.S. here.

The U.S. recognized the independent Republic of Estonia de jure on July 28 1922, during the presidency of Warren Harding.

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