[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 38 (Friday, March 21, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E545]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             ON THE OCCASION OF THE NATIONAL DAY OF GREECE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. MICHAEL R. McNULTY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 18, 1997

  Mr. McNULTY. Mr. Speaker, in the 1820's, when the Greeks fought for 
their independence--after 400 years of domination by the Ottoman 
Empire--they were inspired by the American Revolution.
  In an 1821 appeal to the American people, a Greek Commander--Petros 
Mavromichalis--declared:

       Having formed the resolution to live or die for freedom, we 
     are drawn toward you by a just sympathy since it is in your 
     land that liberty has fixed her abode, and by you that she is 
     prized as by our fathers. Hence, honoring her name, we invoke 
     yours at the same time, trusting that in imitating you, we 
     shall imitate our ancestors and be thought worthy of them if 
     we succeed in resembling you . . . it is for you, citizens of 
     America, to crown this glory.

  Greek intellectuals translated our Declaration of Independence and 
adopted it as their own. And many Americans sailed to Greece to join in 
the Greek fight for independence.
  However, in reality, it is we, the American people, who are indebted 
to Greece for their great contributions to American democracy.
  Thomas Jefferson acknowledged this when he stated:

       To the ancient Greeks . . . we are all indebted for the 
     light which led ourselves [American colonists] out of gothic 
     darkness.

  American democracy was born in Greece. Two thousand years ago, 
Pericles declared:

       Our Constitution is called a democracy because power is in 
     the hands not of a minority but of the whole people. When it 
     is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal 
     before the law . . . And when it is a question of putting one 
     person before another in positions of public responsibility, 
     what counts is not a membership of a particular class, but 
     the actual ability an individual possesses.

  It was to preserve our mutual way of life that Greece stood shoulder 
to shoulder with the United States in every major international 
conflict in the 20th century.
  We owe so much to Helenic civilization, to the people of Greece and 
to the Greek American community for their contributions to virtually 
all aspects of American life.
  In a broad sense, as the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley put it:

       We are all Greeks! Our laws, our literature, our religion, 
     our art, have their roots in Greece.

  To the people of Greece and to the Greek American Community, I extend 
heartiest congratulations on the national birthday of this great 
nation.

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