A small date in a statute, a large addition to the order case: on 12 July 1938, the Cabinet adopted and Kārlis Ulmanis promulgated the Law on Orders and Honorary Badges. It brought the Order of Viesturs and the Cross of Recognition into Latvia’s system of state awards alongside the Order of Lāčplēsis and the Order of the Three Stars. For the latter, the law gave the motto “Pour les honnêtes gens” – “For honorable people” – and awarded it for service in state, public, and cultural work.

The law was passed in the final independent years of authoritarian Latvia, when state decorations were used to recognize both public service and civic work. The new orders existed only briefly – until the occupation of 1940 – but after the restoration of independence they again became part of Latvia’s state award system.