TSCHAKSTE, JAN (1859-1927), first president of the republic of Latvia, was born in Courland, Sept. 14, 1859. He was educated at the Mitau gymnasium, studied law at the University of Moscow, and was for some years in the public prosecutor's depart ment of the Courland Government. Leaving the public service in i888, he started practice as a barrister in Mitau and began to edit the paper Tevija (Fatherland). In 1902 he served on a com mittee appointed by the local administration to enquire into agricultural conditions in Courland, and from time to time was employed on various Imperial Government committees. In 1906 he was elected a member of the first Russian Duma. The German invasion of Courland, July 1915, obliged him to leave Mitau. He went to Petrograd (Leningrad) where he founded a central relief committee for war refugees. In 1916 he went to Stockholm to promote the cause of Lettish independence and published there in German his book, Die Letten and ihre Latvija.
In 1918 Tschakste was elected chairman of the People's Council and was later head of the delegation sent to Paris and London to secure the recognition of the republic of Latvia. He was presi dent of the Latvian National Council and in 192o he was presi dent of the Latvian Constituent Assembly, and also became pro fessor of international law at the University of Riga. On Nov. 14, 1922, he was unanimously elected president of Latvia by the first Latvian Saemia (parliament), and on Nov. 6, 1925, was re elected for a further period of three years, but he died on March 14, 1927, before the completion of his term of office, after a long and painful illness. His activities as a statesman have been dealt with in special publications and, since his death, a memorial fund has been started.