[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 120 (Monday, October 2, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H8590-H8592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONGRATULATING THE REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY ON THE MILLENNIUM OF ITS
FOUNDATION AS A STATE
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee
on International Relations be discharged from further consideration of
the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 400) congratulating the
Republic of Hungary on the millennium of its foundation as a state, and
ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaTourette). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from New York?
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, and I will
not object, I would like to commend the authors of this resolution as
well as all of my colleagues who, along with me, are cosponsors of this
legislation. I think it is appropriate to pay tribute to a country
1,000 years old which at long last has decided to join the community of
democratic and freedom loving nations.
It was my great pleasure to accompany our Secretary of State and the
foreign ministers of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland to
Independence, Missouri for the signing of the document that has made
Hungary a part of NATO. I earnestly hope that Hungary, before long,
will be able to join the European Union.
As we celebrate this momentous occasion, it is important, however, to
hoist a flag of caution. Democracy in Hungary is functioning, but
certainly not without its imperfections. There are still periodic
outbursts of ethnic and racial harassment which the government needs to
do more to put an end to. There are periodic attempts to destroy and
desecrate Jewish cemeteries.
At soccer games, hooligans of the far right are engaging in racial
and religious intimidation. There are indications that the television
medium is not as objective and open as it needs to be in a free and
democratic society.
So while I join my fellow sponsors of this legislation and
congratulate Hungary for having put an end to its fascist and communist
past and having
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joined the family of democratic and freedom loving nations, I call on
all Hungarians to meticulously observe the rules of political democracy
and pluralism without which a promising future certainly will not be
there for the 10 million people who deserve a good future. I want to
congratulate my colleagues.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield.
Mr. LANTOS. I am happy to yield to the distinguished gentleman from
New York.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for
yielding to me.
Mr. Speaker, I support the adoption of House Concurrent Resolution
400. It is interesting to note, as this resolution does, that this year
marks not just the 1,000th anniversary of the crowning of Hungarian
King Stephen, Saint Stephen, by Pope Sylvester II, but also the tenth
anniversary of Hungary's first postcommunist, free and democratic
elections.
Just as King Stephen anchored Hungary in Europe and the Western
civilization, the leadership of post-
communist Hungary has begun to anchor Hungary in Pan-European and
trans-Atlantic institutions once again through that country's admission
into the NATO alliance and its application to enter the European Union.
While congratulating Hungary on the 1,000th anniversary of the
foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary, this resolution makes it clear
that we in the United States commend Hungary's efforts to rejoin the
Pan-European and trans-Atlantic community of democratic states and its
efforts to move beyond the dark days of communist dictatorship to
create a lasting, peaceful and prosperous democracy.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join in supporting the adoption
of this important resolution.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, under my reservation, I am delighted to
yield to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), one
of the principal authors of this resolution.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr.
Lantos) for yielding to me, and I appreciate all his support in
bringing this resolution to the floor.
Mr. Speaker, several months ago, I introduced this bipartisan
resolution congratulating the Republic of Hungary on the millennium of
its founding as a nation, and I am pleased that this bipartisan
resolution has reached the House floor. The bill currently has more
than 30 cosponsors from both parties, and of course the House Committee
on International Relations has approved it.
As a Member of Congress representing one of the largest Hungarian-
American constituencies in this country, I am particularly proud to
have introduced this measure with the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr.
Istook) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and others and
to have it reach the floor. I hope it will be signed into law shortly.
More than 20,000 people of Hungarian descent reside in my
congressional district in New Jersey with New Brunswick being a major
center of Hungarian-American cultural life.
Located in the very heart of Europe, Hungary has been at the center
of most of the epic historical events that have swept through the
continent. Throughout the last thousand years, and particularly during
the turbulent 20th century, Hungary has undergone wars, invasions and
foreign occupations. Nevertheless, the Hungarian people have maintained
their strong sense of nationhood and have preserved their unique
language and culture. While the roots of the Hungarian nation lie in
the East, in the last 1,000 years Hungary has been firmly attached to
the West, an attachment that 45 years of Soviet domination could not
break.
Today, Hungary is a crucial part of the Western alliance. Indeed, in
1990, Hungary became the first of the captive nations of the Warsaw
Pact to hold free and fair elections. Now, as the gentleman from
California (Mr. Lantos) mentioned, it has become a member of NATO, too.
The celebration of 1,000 years of nationhood intends to look back at
Hungary's past, remembering Hungarian intellectual and cultural values
that enriched European culture in the past centuries, while also
looking towards the future. Thus, during this year when Hungary and its
people mark 1,000 years of its history, they also celebrate a decade of
democracy.
Lastly, while paying tribute to our friend and ally in Central
Europe, we should also honor the hundreds of thousands of Americans of
Hungarian descent who have contributed their talents and hard work to
this nation.
If I could just mention to my colleagues, many of the Hungarian-
Americans in my district came here after the uprising in the mid-1950s,
and of course their descendents are still there and contributing to our
culture and our economy in central New Jersey.
But I assure my colleagues that, for those people who left after the
1956 uprising, there was nothing that they enjoyed more than seeing
Hungary become a democracy and a part of NATO and to be able to
increase every year their alliance with the West and to our democratic
values.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Pallone) for his eloquent and appropriate comments.
Mr. Speaker, under my reservation, I am delighted to yield to the
distinguished gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Istook), one of the
principle authors of this legislation.
Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for
yielding to me. I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman) for
bringing this legislation up.
Mr. Speaker, as a principle sponsor, I think it is good that we talk
about what it means for a nation, for Hungary, to celebrate 1,000 years
as a Nation. Many of us recall when the United States of America
celebrated its bicentennial in 1976. That was for 200 years. We have
not yet made it quite to 225 or 250 or 500, much less 1,000 years that
Hungary is celebrating.
When one looks at the history when they came into the Carpathian
Basin and they decided that they wanted to establish permanency, and
they wanted to be a key part of Europe, and they had the crowning of
Saint Stephen as the first king of Hungary, and founded the state that
has endured despite the Nazi occupations, the Soviet occupations. We,
who have visited Hungary both before and after the Iron Curtain came
down, see the marvelous resiliency of a people who could not be
suppressed, who retained everything that they could, that made an
example before the world in 1956 as the first nation to try to throw
off the yoke of Communist oppression and domination.
The Freedom Fighters of Hungary earned a special place in the hearts
of the American people. I am proud of the fact that Hungary was the
first country under communist domination to break out by holding free
elections. As the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) mentioned, in
1990, when Hungary did that, that really started the collapse of the
Iron Curtain.
Now this is especially important to me, not just because I visited
this beautiful land, but this is the land from which my grandparents
came to the United States of America. My father's parents were
immigrants from Hungary. My grandfather came here just before the first
world war. He became an American citizen. Just after that war, he went
back and married my grandmother. James and Rozalia Istook became U.S.
citizens.
If one has a chance to see the difference, Hungarians as well as so
many people from throughout the land gathered to the United States of
America and made this the melting pot. Because of that, we feel special
kinship and ties to those who remained as well as those who came having
had a chance to visit with family that we still have in Hungary before,
and to rejoice with them in knowing that they have opportunities
because they would not give up. They would not surrender their hearts
and their minds and their souls to the communist yoke.
{time} 1900
In fact, when we were visiting in Hungary before the fall of the Iron
Curtain, it was fascinating to us that because of the 1956 revolution
and the resistance that they constantly had to the Soviet regime, they
were allowed certain economic opportunities and freedoms that other
nations in the Communist block did not have, and we found that people
there often referred to Hungary as the ``Little USA.'' This
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was what they were saying among themselves, because they had that same
yearning for freedom and for opportunity, economic as well as
political.
There is a great sharing between our Nation and Hungary, and to know
that Hungary has set an example of endurance of a thousand years, I
think, is a great challenge for the United States of America. I would
love to see the day when the parliament in Hungary is passing a
resolution commending the United States of America on 1,000 years as a
nation. Anyone who has never had a chance to visit Hungary and
Budapest, this is one of the most beautiful spots in the entire world
there on the Danube River where the Hungarian parliament is located. So
as well as commemorating Hungary, we urge Americans to visit this great
land.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos); and
of course, for him, it is not just a matter of his ancestors but
himself who was born there, and he sets the example, as I mentioned, of
being part of the melting pot: E Pluribus Unum, out of many nations has
come one, the United States. And we want to remember this special land
of Hungary and congratulate them on their millennium.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I want to thank my
colleague and friend for his most eloquent remarks.
Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, may I just say that as one of Hungarian
heritage, who is immensely proud of his heritage, it is important for
us to realize that this small nation of 10 million people has been a
leader globally in science, in music, in art, in sports, in almost
every field of human endeavor. In the Sidney Olympics just concluded,
again the Hungarian Olympic team acquitted itself with remarkable
success. There is a tremendous list of Nobel laureates from Hungary,
testifying to the scientific and educational and academic achievements
of this small country.
I strongly urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution and,
more importantly, to work along with those of us who have special
interests in Hungary to continue building ties of business and culture
and academic exchange and good fellowship with the people of Hungary.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. LANTOS. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I just want to thank the gentleman from
California (Mr. Lantos), the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Istook), and
the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) for their work on this
measure and for their supporting statements. This is an important
resolution, and I just want to urge my colleagues to fully support the
measure.
Mr. LANTOS. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I thank the
distinguished chairman of the committee for his words.
Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dickey). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
The Clerk read the concurrent resolution, as follows:
H. Con. Res. 400
Whereas the ancestors of the Hungarian nation, 7 tribes
excelling in horsemanship and handicrafts, settled in the
Carpathian basin around the end of the 9th century;
Whereas during the next century this tribal association had
accommodated itself to a permanently settled status;
Whereas the ruler of the nation at the end of the first
millennium, Prince Stephen, realized with great foresight
that the survival of his nation depends on its adapting
itself to its surroundings by becoming a Christian kingdom
and linking its future to Western civilization;
Whereas in 1000 A.D. Stephen, later canonized as Saint
Stephen, adopted the Christian faith and was crowned with a
crown which he requested from Pope Sylvester II of Rome;
Whereas, by those acts, Saint Stephen, King of Hungary,
established his domain as 1 of the 7 Christian kingdoms of
Europe of the time and anchored his nation in Western
civilization forever;
Whereas during the past 1,000 years, in spite of residing
on the traditional crossroads of invaders from the East and
the West, the Hungarian nation showed great vitality in
preserving its unique identity, language, culture, and
traditions;
Whereas in his written legacy, Saint Stephen called for
tolerance and hospitality toward settlers migrating to the
land from other cultures;
Whereas through the ensuing centuries other tribes and
ethnic and religious groups moved to Hungary and gained
acceptance into the nation, enriching its heritage;
Whereas since the 16th century a vibrant Protestant
community has contributed to the vitality and diversity of
the Hungarian nation;
Whereas, particularly after their emancipation in the
second half of the 19th century, Hungarians of the Jewish
faith have made an enormous contribution to the economic,
cultural, artistic, and scientific life of the Hungarian
nation, contributing more than half of the nation's Nobel
Prize winners;
Whereas the United States has benefitted immensely from the
hard work, dedication, scientific knowledge, and cultural
gifts of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Hungary;
and
Whereas in this year Hungary also celebrates the 10th
anniversary of its first post-communist free and democratic
elections, the first such elections within the former Warsaw
Pact: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That the Congress--
(1) congratulates the Republic of Hungary, and Hungarians
everywhere, on the one thousandth anniversary of the founding
of the Kingdom of Hungary by Saint Stephen; and
(2) commends the Republic of Hungary for the great
determination, skill, and sense of purpose it demonstrated in
its recent transition to a democratic state dedicated to
upholding universal rights and liberties, a free market
economy, and integration into European and transatlantic
institutions.
The concurrent resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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