List of governments of Lithuania (1918–40)

The list gives the composition of the governments of the Republic of Lithuania from 1918 to 1940. During that period Lithuania was an independent republic. From 1918 to December 1926 it was a democracy and the governments were formed from members of various parties. After the coup of 1926, Lithuania was ruled by authoritarian Antanas Smetona and his party, the Lithuanian National Union. Only the last two governments included members from the opposition.

Sources sometimes give conflicting data about the ministers, especially from the early governments. That is because those governments were short-lived, formed during the time of war, and not well documented.

Governments

Ministry	1st Government November 11, 1918 December 26, 1918	2nd Government December 26, 1918 March 5, 1919	3rd Government March 12, 1919 April 12, 1919
Prime Minister	Augustinas Voldemaras	Mykolas Sleževičius	Pranas Dovydaitis
Foreign Affairs	Augustinas Voldemaras
Internal Affairs	Vladas Stašinskas	Jonas Vileišis	Aleksandras Stulginskis
Defense	Augustinas Voldemaras[1] and Mykolas Velykis[2][3]	Mykolas Velykis	Antanas Merkys[4]
Justice	Petras Leonas		Liudas Noreika
Finance[5]	Martynas Yčas
Commerce and Industry[6]		Jonas Šimkus
Agriculture and State Resources	Juozas Tūbelis		Povilas Matulionis[7]
Education	Jonas Yčas[4]	Mykolas Biržiška	Jonas Yčas
Provision and Public Work	Vladas Stašinskas[3][8]	Juozas Paknys[9]	Aleksandras Stulginskis
Communications	Matynas Yčas[3]	Jonas Šimoliūnas[4]
Without Portfolio for Belarusian Affairs	Juozapas Voronko
Without Portfolio for Jewish Affairs	Jocob Wygodsky
Without Portfolio		Aleksandras Stulginskis
Ministry	4th Government April 12, 1919 October 2, 1919	5th Government October 7, 1919 June 15, 1920	6th Government June 19, 1920 January 18, 1922
Prime Minister	Mykolas Sleževičius[10]	Ernestas Galvanauskas	Kazys Grinius
Foreign Affairs	Augustinas Voldemaras		Juozas Purickis, Vladas Jurgutis,[11] Petras Klimas,[12] and Vladas Jurgutis[13][14]
Internal Affairs	Petras Leonas	Eliziejus Draugelis	Rapolas Skipitis
Defense	Antanas Merkys and Povilas Žadeikis[3][15]	Pranas Liatukas[4]	Konstantinas Žukas and Jonas Šimkus[16]
Justice	Liudas Noreika		Vincas Karoblis
Finance[5]	Jonas Vileišis	Ernestas Galvanauskas
Commerce, and Industry[6]	Jonas Šimkus
Agriculture and State Resources	Aleksandras Stulginskis	Juozas Tūbelis[4]	Jonas Aleksa
Education	Juozas Tūbelis		Kazys Bizauskas
Supply and Provision	Steponas Kairys
Labor and Social Security	Juozas Paknys
Communications	Valdemaras Čarneckis		Ernestas Galvanauskas[8]
Without Portfolio for Belarusian Affairs	Juozapas Voronko		Dominik Semashko
Without Portfolio for Jewish Affairs	Max Soloveitzik
Without Portfolio	Jokūbas Šernas
Ministry	7th Government February 2, 1922 February 22, 1923	8th Government February 22, 1923 June 28, 1923	9th Government June 29, 1923 June 17, 1924
Prime Minister	Ernestas Galvanauskas
Foreign Affairs	Vladas Jurgutis and Ernestas Galvanauskas[17]	Ernestas Galvanauskas
Internal Affairs	Kazimieras Oleka		Karolis Žalkauskas
Defense	Balys Sližys
Justice	Vincas Karoblis		Antanas Tumėnas
Finance, Commerce, and Industry[18]	Jonas Dobkevičius and Vytautas Petrulis[19]	Vytautas Petrulis
Agriculture and State Resources[20]	Jonas Aleksa		Mykolas Krupavičius
Education	Petras Juodakis		Leonas Bistras
Communications	Petras Vileišis	Benediktas Tomaševičius	Tomas Norus-Naruševičius
Without Portfolio for Belarusian Affairs	Dominik Semashko[8]	Ernestas Galvanauskas[8]
Without Portfolio for Jewish Affairs	Max Soloveitzik till April 1922, then Julius Brutzkus[21]	Bernard Naftal Friedman	Simon Rosenbaum[22]
Ministry	10th Government June 18, 1924 January 27, 1925	11th Government February 4, 1925 September 19, 1925	12th Government September 25, 1925 May 31, 1926
Prime Minister	Antanas Tumėnas	Vytautas Petrulis	Leonas Bistras
Foreign Affairs	Voldemaras Čarneckis		Mečislavas Reinys and Leonas Bistras[23]
Internal Affairs	Antanas Tumėnas[4] and Zigmas Starkus[24]	Antanas Endziulaitis
Defense	Teodoras Daukantas		Leonas Bistras
Justice	Antanas Tumėnas		Vincas Karoblis
Finance	Vytautas Petrulis		Petras Karvelis
Agriculture and State Resources[25]	Mykolas Krupavičius
Education	Leonas Bistras	Kazys Jokantas
Communications	Balys Sližys
Ministry	13th Government June 15, 1926 December 17, 1926	14th Government December 17, 1926 September 19, 1929	15th Government September 23, 1929 June 8, 1934
Prime Minister	Mykolas Sleževičius	Augustinas Voldemaras	Juozas Tūbelis
Foreign Affairs	Mykolas Sleževičius[8]	Augustinas Voldemaras	Juozas Tūbelis[8] and Dovas Zaunius[26]
Internal Affairs	Vladas Požėla	Ignas Musteikis	Ignas Musteika, Petras Aravičius,[27] and Steponas Rusteika[28]
Defense	Juozas Papečkys	Antanas Merkys, Teodoras Daukantas,[29] and Augustinas Voldemaras[30]	Jonas Variakojis and Balys Giedraitis[31]
Justice	Mykolas Sleževičius	Stasys Šilingas and Aleksandras Žilinskas[32]	Aleksandras Žilinskas
Finance	Albinas Rimka	Petras Karvelis and Juozas Tūbelis[33]	Juozas Tūbelis
Agriculture	Jurgis Kirkščiūnas	Jonas Aleksa
Education	Vincas Čepinskis	Leonas Bistras and Kostantinas Šakenis[33]	Konstantinas Šakenis
Communications	Benediktas Tomaševičius[4]	Juozas Jankevičius, Stasys Čiurlionis,[34] and Jonas Variakojis[35]	Vytautas Vileišis
Ministry	16th Government June 12, 1934 September 6, 1935	17th Government September 6, 1935 March 24, 1938	18th Government March 24, 1938 December 5, 1938
Prime Minister	Juozas Tūbelis		Vladas Mironas
Foreign Affairs	Stasys Lozoraitis
Internal Affairs	Steponas Rusteika	Julius Čaplikas	Silvestras Leonas
Defense	Petras Šniukšta	Petras Šniukšta and Stasys Dirmantas[36]	Stasys Raštikis[8]
Justice	Stasys Šilingas		Boleslovas Masiulis and Vladas Stašinskas[37]
Finance	Juozas Tūbelis		Julius Indrišiūnas
Agriculture	Jonas Aleksa	Stasys Putvinskis	Juozas Tūbelis and Vladas Mironas[38]
Education	Juozas Tonkūnas
Communications	Jokūbas Stanišauskas
Ministry	19th Government December 5, 1938 March 27, 1939	20th Government March 28, 1939 November 21, 1939	21st Government November 21, 1939 June 15, 1940
Prime Minister	Vladas Mironas	Jonas Černius	Antanas Merkys
Foreign Affairs	Juozas Urbšys
Internal Affairs	Silvestras Leonas	Kazys Skučas
Defense	Kazys Musteikis
Justice	Jonas Gudauskis	Antanas Tamošaitis
Finance	Julius Indrišiūnas	Jonas Sutkus	Ernestas Galvanauskas
Agriculture	Juozas Skaisgiris	Jurgis Krikščiūnas	Juozas Audėnas
Education	Juozas Tonkūnas	Leonas Bistras	Kazys Jokantas
Communications	Kazys Germanas		Jonas Mailiūnas

Notes

1. To December 19, 1919
2. From December 24, 1918
3. There is conflicting data about this minister. In this case Banevičius (1991) was followed.
4. Held the title of Director
5. During the 1st, 5th, and 6th Governments, was named Ministry of Finance, Commerce, and Industry
6. During the 1st, 5th, and 6th Governments, was part of Ministry of Finance, Commerce, and Industry
7. Held the title of Deputy Minister
8. Acting
9. Acting Director
10. Also acting Minister of Foreign Affairs
11. Acting, from June 19, 1921
12. Acting, from December 20, 1921
13. From January 1, 1922
14. There is conflicting data about this minister. In this case Lietuva (2008) was followed.
15. Acting, from August 21, 1919
16. From April 7 or 11, 1921
17. From September 28, 1922
18. Renamed to Ministry of Finance after the 8th Government
19. From August 21, 1922
20. Renamed to Ministry of Agriculture during the 9th Government
21. Gitelman, Zvi Y. (2003). The emergence of modern Jewish politics: Bundism and Zionism in Eastern Europe. Univ of Pittsburgh Press. p. 275. ISBN 978-0-8229-4188-0. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
22. Resigned on February 12, 1924; Chancery closed on March 19, 1924
23. From April 21, 1926
24. From July 8, 1924
25. Renamed just to Ministry of Agriculture during the 11th and 12th Governments
26. From November 8, 1929
27. From November 30, 1929
28. From April 1, 1931
29. From August 9, 1927
30. Acting, from November 22, 1928
31. From June 27, 1930
32. From February 4, 1928
33. From May 3, 1927
34. Director, from May 3, 1927 to February 4, 1928. Minister, from February 4, 1928
35. Director, from November 22, 1928
36. From November 1, 1935
37. From October 1, 1938
38. Acting, from October 1, 1938

References

• Banevičius, Algirdas (1991). 111 Lietuvos valstybės 1918–1940 politikos veikėjų (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Knyga. pp. 11–33. ISBN 5-89942-585-7.
• Eidintas, Alfonsas; Vytautas Žalys; Alfred Erich Senn (September 1999). Ed. Edvardas Tuskenis, ed. Lithuania in European Politics: The Years of the First Republic, 1918–1940 (Paperback ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 199–206. ISBN 0-312-22458-3.
• "Ankstesnės vyriausybės > Laikotarpiu 1918–1940" (in Lithuanian). Government of the Republic of Lithuania. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
• Eidintas, Alfonsas (1990). Antanas Smetona (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Mintis. pp. 233–238. ISBN 5-417-00376-X.
• Antanas Račys, ed. (2008). "Vyriausybė". Lietuva (in Lithuanian) I. Vilnius: Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute. p. 263. ISBN 978-5-420-01639-8.