On the same day, Päts sent his son Viktor to visit the United States Legation in Tallinn and appeal for protection and asylum in the United States for himself and his family. The Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles did allow the entire Päts family to be granted diplomatic visas already on the next day. Many Soviet-era and even sources claim that Päts resigned on 21 July 1940. Other sources however claim that he resigned on 22 July and the resignation was approved on 23 July, making Päts the president of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic for two days. Whatever the case, Vares took over the president's powers as "Prime Minister in duties of the President," thus giving legal sanction to the final stages of Estonia's annexation by the Soviet Union.