[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 86 (Thursday, June 17, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1315-E1316]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1315]]
 THE VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF HUNGARY TO THE UNITED STATES--TOASTS AT 
                            THE STATE DINNER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 17, 1999

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, just a few days ago, the President of 
Hungary, His Excellency Arpad Goncz, paid an official visit to the 
United States.
  President Goncz stands with Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech 
Republic, as one of the pivotal leaders of post-Communist Central 
Europe--a man of integrity, a man of character who has provided a moral 
anchor as Hungary has sought to find its way in establishing a 
democratic society and a free market economy.
  Arpad Goncz graduated with a Doctor of Law degree in 1944. After the 
liberation of Hungary, he was active in non-Communist political groups. 
When the Communist Party came to power in Hungary, he was forced to 
earn his living as a welder and pipe fitter and later as an 
agricultural engineer. He supported the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, 
and in 1957 he was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment for his 
efforts in the attempt to overthrow the communist regime. His time in 
prison was well-spent, because that is where he learned English.
  After serving 6 years in prison, Arpad Goncz was released under terms 
of a general amnesty. He then began a career as a literary translator 
and free-lance writer. He translated the works of more than a hundred 
writers, mostly American and English authors including James Baldwin, 
E.L. Doctorow, William Faulkner, William Golding, Ernest Hemingway, 
William Styron, Susan Sontag, John Updike, Edith Wharton, President 
Goncz is also a playwright and novelist in his own right.
  When Hungary moved from a communist to a democratic government, Arpad 
Goncz was elected a member of the democratically elected parliament in 
the spring of 1990. He was chosen Speaker of Parliament on May 2, 1990, 
and in this position served as Interim President of the Repubic of 
Hungary. On August 3, 1993, Arpad Goncz was elected President of the 
Republic of Hungary, and on June 19, 1995, he was reelected to a five-
year term as President.
  Mr. Speaker, as a moral influence and a voice of integrity, President 
Arpad Goncz has been a pivotal figure in the democratic transformation 
of Hungary. It is most appropriate that he was highly honored during 
his recent visit to the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit the speech at the State Dinner honoring 
President Goncz by President Clinton and the response of President 
Goncz to be placed in the Record.

                       Toast of President Clinton

       The President of the United States: Ladies and gentlemen, 
     welcome to the White House. And a special welcome to 
     President and Mrs. Goncz and members of the Hungarian 
     delegation.
       Exactly 150 years ago, in 1849, a young congressman from 
     Illinois, serving his first and only term in the U.S. House 
     of Representatives, offered a resolution supporting the 
     Hungarian people's struggle for independence and democracy. 
     At that time, the leader of the Hungarian freedom movement, 
     of course, was Lajos Kossuth. The congressman was Abraham 
     Lincoln. The bonds between our citizens, based not only on 
     the large number of distinguished Hungarian Americans in our 
     country, but also on our shared aspirations for freedom and 
     democracy, have very deep roots.
       I would like to say a special word of thanks to Congressman 
     Tom and Annette Lantos, and others who have helped them, 
     because they are responsible for the fact that a bust of 
     Kossuth now stands in the Rotunda of our Capitol.
       Ralph Waldo Emerson called him ``the angel of freedom.'' He 
     was only the second non-American--Lafayette being the first--
     to address both Houses of Congress. Crowds greeted him 
     wherever he went. He was a true American hero.
       Mr. President, like Kossuth, you taught yourself English 
     while you were in prison--at a time when you had just escaped 
     a death sentence and faced a life term, because you stood for 
     liberty. Later, you translated the works of many great 
     writers: Edith Wharton, Thomas Wolfe, William Faulkner, 
     Ernest Hemingway, Arthur Miller, James Baldwin, John Updike, 
     Alice Walker. And at least two I think are here tonight--
     William Styron and Susan Sontag. These translations offered 
     Hungarians a window on the West and earned you many 
     admirers at home. This work is just one part, but it is a 
     vital part, of your contribution to ending the division of 
     Europe.
       I even noted in preparing for this evening that you 
     translated into Hungarian President Bush's 1988 campaign 
     biography, ``Looking Forward.'' Now by the time Al Gore and I 
     published our book, ``Putting People First,'' in 1992, you 
     were already President of Hungary and, unfortunately, too 
     busy to translate this profoundly important work. At least I 
     choose to believe that is the reason you did not choose to 
     translate it.
       In this decade your own works have been translated and 
     published in English, your plays performed in the United 
     States. They are a brave set of explorations of political 
     conflict and war, freedom and betrayal, the struggle for 
     daily survival and dignity in the face of adversity. 
     Americans have absorbed these works as we have watched you 
     lead your nation, deepening freedom there, and promoting 
     human rights and ethnic tolerance around the world, and 
     especially in your own region.
       The only Hungarian head of state to make an official visit 
     to Romania in this century, you told the joint session of 
     Parliament there that ethnic minorities enrich their nations 
     and ``form a valuable connective link in strengthening 
     relations'' between nations.
       Your vision of people living together and nations living 
     together, resolving differences peacefully, drawing strength 
     from their diversity, treating all people with equal 
     dignity--this will form the basis of a better future for 
     Europe and the world. It is at the heart of what we have been 
     trying to do in our efforts to reverse ethnic cleansing in 
     Kosovo, and to build a Southeastern Europe in which all 
     people can live together in dignity and freedom.
       Now, Mr. President, normally when I propose a toast to a 
     visiting head of state, I say something like, ``cheers.'' I 
     have been advised by the State Department that the Hungarian 
     word for ``cheers'' is--and I want to quote from the memo I 
     got--``practically impossible to pronounce correctly.'' I 
     have accepted their considered judgment. So, instead, I would 
     like to salute you and Mrs. Goncz with the words that greeted 
     Kossuth on streamers all across New York City on the day he 
     arrived in America--Isten Hozta. ``Welcome.''
       I ask all of you to join me in a toast to President and 
     Mrs. Goncz, and to the people of Hungary. Thank you very 
     much.

                        Toast of President Goncz

       The President of Hungary: Mr. President, Mrs. Clinton, dear 
     friends. Back home in my own country I have the privilege of 
     speaking in my own native language. It would be becoming to 
     speak English here, but there is one thing I learned when I 
     was a writer--that lesson I learned, that if you cannot 
     express yourself in an adequate way in that language, then 
     you'd rather not deliver speeches in that language.
       I do apologize for not speaking English, because eventually 
     I might end up as Kossuth did when he was here. As it was 
     mentioned, he learned English also in prison, as I did. And 
     he had excellent rhetoric abilities. And after one of the 
     enlightening speeches he made here in America, two listeners 
     started to whisper between each other, ``I never thought that 
     English was so close to Hungarian.''
       Now, this time, I would like to spare you that experience. 
     My friend speaks better English than I do.
       Mr. President mentioned something about my past as a 
     translator. I learned English in the prison through the works 
     of Kennedy. First, I translated the speeches of Kennedy. This 
     was something like lawful--translated for the higher 
     authorities in the party. It was strictly confidential. I am 
     terribly sorry that President Kennedy never had the chance to 
     see himself how authentic the Hungarian translation was.
       But I'd like to come back on the events of today. 
     Officially, I was in the White House in an official capacity 
     in April 1993. At that time I met the President, and there 
     were some other heads of state also here. And then when I 
     looked around, I had the wind of youthfulness, optimism, and 
     an air of determination. Today, I experienced the same: a 
     determined leadership that decides the fate of the world; 
     responsibility and profound humanity.
       We have had long discussions today. It is a God-given gift 
     that my visit that had been prepared for months was realized 
     today--all of these days going to be decisive. This is a 
     crucial day when the Kosovo crisis is raising its beak and 
     it's going to come to completion.
       We have had a long discussion with Mr. President, not only 
     the two of us. But if I were to characterize the meeting, I 
     would say that it was not negotiations, diplomatic 
     negotiations, but thinking together. And this was the first 
     time I really felt, genuinely, that the two countries are 
     allies, and a real alliance is characterized by identical 
     values and also that you approach the problems to be solved 
     from the same angle.
       Even during the air campaign we tried to find the man, a 
     human being in that. And we fully agreed that the peace of 
     Europe is unthinkable without the peace in the Balkans. And 
     without the understanding and the cooperation of the people 
     in the Balkans, it is inconceivable to have peace in that 
     region.
       The discussions we have had today will have a very 
     significant imprint not only because of the political 
     implications, but also because I made a great acquaintance of 
     a genuine, real man.
       During my presidency we have met about four or five times, 
     but we never had a chance before to think together about the 
     course of the world. We did that today. And we also found 
     that it is the human being that is the common denominator: 
     the man in Kosovo, the Serbian man; let me tell you, also the 
     Hungarian man, who has got responsibility for the Serbs, as 
     well, after having lived together with them for hundreds and 
     hundreds of years.

[[Page E1316]]

       And if one day the Democratic leadership in Serbia is 
     created, we Hungarians are ready to share our experience in 
     building democracy with the Serbian people, with the Serbian 
     leadership. And we are prepared to do what we have done with 
     other neighboring countries already. We are going to tell 
     them not only what we have done correctly and well, what we 
     are going to tell them where we made a mistake, where we made 
     an error, because it's a matter of course that sometimes one 
     makes mistakes. But if through good advice you can avoid at 
     least one mistake, then it was worth it.
       We are prepared to extend a helping hand to a democratic 
     Serbian government, to the Serbian people, because we know 
     what bombing means from our own experience. We know what has 
     to be restored--bridges, oil refineries, infrastructure, but 
     primarily and foremost, the belief of the people in the 
     future--the faith in humanity, belief in the willingness of 
     the people to help each other.
       And if we manage to help all the wounds that were acquired 
     during the war since 1992, and we manage to resolve all the 
     hatred, which may take even two generations, then we have to 
     give them help and assistance to make the first first.
       It was a gratifying and a good feeling to me to have 
     understanding between the two sides. Because you can feed in 
     information about the amount of bombs you want to drop; you 
     can feed in costs; but there is one thing you cannot feed in, 
     in a computer--the past of a nation, the mentality of the 
     people, the moral feelings, eventual solidarity or hostility. 
     I can see that the American leadership is ready to consider 
     that, as well, after the success of the air campaign and, 
     perhaps, even more so, afterwards.
       The serious negotiations we have had here in Washington, 
     D.C., I will take that home with me as one of the greatest 
     experiences in my life. First, because I was really convinced 
     that it is possible for a big country and a small country to 
     become real allies on the basis of equality. And I do hope, 
     Mr. President, you're not going to misunderstand me if I say, 
     I am taking with me the experience of a new friendship, as 
     well, with me.
       Perhaps I cannot say anymore than that. If you want, I can 
     tell you all the political slogans that you know by heart 
     here, but I suppose these few things are a lot more worthy. 
     For the Hungarians, for the Serbs, for the Kosovars, for the 
     whole of Central Europe, I do hope, out of the bottom of my 
     heart, that all the generals of NATO--and perhaps it will all 
     help us to understand the events and developments of our 
     days.
       Once again, I apologize for speaking in Hungarian, but I 
     suppose it was better to tell that in Hungarian than mumbling 
     it in English. Thank you for listening to me.

     

                          ____________________