Baltic Freedom Rally Puts Pressure on Bush : Protest: Thousands of Lithuanian-Americans gather on the Capitol steps as Orange County Rep. Robert K. Dornan and New York Sen. Alphonse D’Amato demand a tougher stance from the President.

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) delivered a fiery tirade Friday on the front steps of the Capitol, leading thousands of Lithuanian-Americans in decrying Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s crackdown on the secessionist Baltic states.

Chanting “Freedom now!” and waving yellow, green and red Lithuanian flags, thousands of ethnic Americans roared as Dornan and Sen. Alphonse D’Amato (R-N.Y.) called on President Bush to pressure Gorbachev to recognize Lithuanian independence and let democracy prevail in neighboring Estonia and Latvia.

Surrounded at the podium by cheering protesters, with the Capitol dome behind him, Dornan declared: “Our President, the leader of the free world, must tell Mr. Gorbachev in plain and clear and simple terms: You will never get most-favored-nation status--never!--as long as the Baltic states are oppressed.”

Both Dornan and D’Amato were interrupted repeatedly by the crowd’s shouts of “Freedom now!” and “Aciu!”, the Lithuanian word for “thank you.” Some protesters had traveled here in chartered buses from as far away as California

“I have a message for you,” D’Amato said. “ Lyetuva bus laisva --Lithuania will be free!”

“Mr. Gorbachev, we are upset,” said D’Amato, who was a key voice in the Senate’s recent 73-24 vote to deny the Soviets most-favored-nation trade status. “Although you may have been schooled in the art of Western politics and public relations, you must understand that freedom is something that can never be compromised.”

The rally, the first major public outburst against Administration policy during the summit, was called by Lithuanian-American groups to protest Bush’s gingerly response to Lithuania’s declaration of independence. AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland and former U.S. Ambassador to Poland Richard Davies also blasted Bush’s Baltic policy.

Bush and Gorbachev, occupied with a range of highly sensitive issues from German reunification to arms reduction, so far have put the political future of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on the summit back-burner.

Hundreds of protesters hefted signs that bore impatient, angry slogans, such as “Less dialogue--more action” and “We want ‘some day’ to come today.” Some took aim at Bush, such as “Bush makes no deals with terrorists . . . unless they’re Russian.”

Many signs were directed at the perceived cozy relationship between the two conferring presidents: “Gorby and Bush: Tiny Lithuania is bigger than both of you,” “Gorby runs the White House,” and in one titled “Wake up, George,” a pajama-clad Bush was depicted lying beside the Soviet president in a yellow, green and red bed.

Dornan, who emphasized that he is “a Bush man,” nonetheless offered the President a suggestion.

“I’ve said it on the House floor: There is no political problem for Bush to stand tall for liberty in the three Baltic countries, because we have never unrecognized them,” Dornan said. “All he has got to do is tell Mr. Gorbachev, ‘I must stand with the Baltic nations, because their embassies have been recognized in our country since the early 1920s. We will not turn our back on our friends.”’

The Orange County Republican’s message fired up the crowd. Many present were first-generation emigrants or descendants of Lithuanians who fled their homeland, either during World War II or after the Soviets annexed the Baltics in 1945.

“We don’t want this summit to be a one-sided public relations maneuver by Gorbachev, that everything’s rosy, peachy keen,” said Marijus Gudinskas, 36, who drove more than 10 hours from his hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, with his Lithuanian wife and two sons.