[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 59 (Friday, May 10, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E771-E772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[[Page E771]]
ADDRESS OF AMBASSADOR GEZA JESZENSZKY ON THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
VISIT TO AMERICA BY HUNGARIAN DEMOCRATIC LEADER LAJOS KOSSUTH
______
HON. TOM LANTOS
of california
in the house of representatives
Thursday, May 9, 2002
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago the Hungarian embassy, along
with the American Hungarian Federation of Metropolitan Washington,
D.C., and the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, organized a
meeting to honor Lajos Kossuth, the influential Hungarian statesman and
an advocate for democratic ideals in Hungary in the middle of the
nineteenth century.
The event commemorated Kossuth's celebrated visit to America 150
years ago. Following an invitation from the President of the United
States, Kossuth arrived in New York City on December 5, 1851, marking
the beginning of a six-month tour of the country.
During his time here, Kossuth gave several hundred speeches
throughout the United States, including separate addresses in both
houses of Congress. Kossuth received praise by many notable American
political leaders and intellectuals, including William Lloyd Garrison,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Greeley, and
Abraham Lincoln. In response to Kossuth's visit, approximately 250
poems, dozens of books, hundreds of pamphlets, and thousands of
editorials were written about him.
Mr. Speaker, since I was born in Hungary, the legacy of Lajos Kossuth
holds a special place in my heart. But by no means are the ideals and
values of this noble man limited to a specific country. He devoted his
life to fight for and defend democracy, freedom, and human liberties.
Kossuth has been named, alongside George Washington, as a symbol of
``universal human values.'' I do not hesitate to echo this sentiment
and encourage all of us to learn more about Kossuth and the causes he
held dear.
In that vein, I would like to share with my colleagues the excellent
speech given by the Hungarian Ambassador to the United States Geza
Jeszenszky at the event to honor Kossuth. Jeszensky's speech, entitled,
``150 Years of Influence of Louis Kossuth, Governor-President of
Hungary,'' gives an excellent overview of Kossuth's visit to the United
States and its lasting influence on America. I would like to share his
remarks with my colleagues, and request that they be placed in the
Record.
150 Years of Influence of Louis Kossuth, Governor-President of Hungary
(By Ambassador Geza Jeszenszky)
Congressman Lantos, Mrs. Lantos, Your Excellency Ambassador
Poptodorova, distinguished other members of the Diplomatic
Corps, Leaders of the American Hungarian community, Ladies
and Gentlemen, dear Friends:
Senator Seward of New York described Kossuth in the U.S.
Senate on Dec. 8, 1851 as ``a personage whose name and fame
at this time fills the eye and ear of the world.''
Hungary had many great statesmen and other luminaries in
her checkered history, but Kossuth stands out among them.
Like George Washington, he was regarded as the father of the
nation already in his lifetime. He was the first Hungarian
political leader to make it into world history, on his visits
he was admired and welcomed in England, France, the U.S. and
in Italy by enthusiastic crowds. At least 100,000 turned out
to great him in New York City on Broadway. He was a star
matched by few politicians.
Kossuth is considered as one of the great orators of all
times. He could capture his audience in Hungarian, German,
Latin and English, too. He also knew a lot about the history
and constitution of America. As the editor of the first
popular daily newspaper in Hungary he established the
reputation of the U.S. as a most successful country and a
political model.
The democratic revolution in 1848, inspired and led by
Kossuth, transformed Hungary from a neglected and oppressed
province of the Habsburgs into a modern constitutional and
independent state. The armed attack on it by the Habsburg
Army led to a War of Independence, and it was followed with
keen interest by millions in Europe and America. Following a
series of spectacular victories in the spring the Hungarian
Parliament elected Kossuth Governor-President on April 14,
1849. The U.S. sent an envoy, Mr. Dudley Mann, with the
intention of recognizing Hungary's independence. That was
forestalled by the Russian intervention--for the first, but
not for the last time! President Zachary Taylor was an
enthusiastic supporter of the cause of Hungary--his reports
and instructions to the Senate at the end of 1849 testify
that.
The bloody reprisals following the surrender of the
Hungarian Army in August 1849 even increased the sympathy
worldwide--this is another painful parallel with 1956.
There were a number of prominent members of the U.S.
Congress who took a very strong interest in Hungary in those
days, most notably Senator Cass of Michigan (who in early
1850 moved to break diplomatic relations with Austria), and
Senator Webster of Massachusetts. There was even a move in
the House of Representatives to censure the President and the
Secretary of State for failing to recognize the independence
of Hungary in due time.
The death of President Taylor was a blow to the Hungarians
as well. His successor, President Fillmore was more reserved,
but his Secretary of State became Webster, an admirer of
Kossuth. In Spring 1851 Senator Foot of Mississippi moved to
send a warship for Kossuth to bring him over to the States
from his exile in Turkey. The Senate concurred, and the
frigate Mississippi was dispatched.
Kossuth arrived in New York on December 4, 1851. He was
welcomed by huge crowds, both there and subsequently in
Philadelphia and Baltimore. The exiled Head of State came to
the United States with far higher aims than raising money for
the continuation of the Hungarian War of Independence. While
he fully understood why the Founding Fathers of the Republic
warned against entangling alliances, he hoped to bring about
a fundamental change in U.S. foreign policy: to convince the
country that the time came for taking an active role in
international affairs, commensurate with its strength, and to
make Americans realize the interdependence of Europe and the
U.S., that the Atlantic was no longer a barrier but rather a
link, that freedom and democracy in Europe was also a vital
interest for the American Republic, and, finally, that the
two English-speaking countries must be allied so that they
could jointly prevent tyrannical, authoritarian countries
like Russia from suppressing the striving of subject nations
for freedom.
The effort to bring about a fundamental change in U.S.
foreign policy, to abandon neutrality and isolationism was
bound to fail in 1852--but wasn't Kossuth's only a premature
but sound idea? Sixty-six years later, in 1917, the U.S.
acted along such lines, and ninety years later the Atlantic
Charter came to embody the principles first advocated by the
Hungarian leader.
While Kossuth's first speeches in New York were received
most warmly by crowded audiences, they cooled the enthusiasm
of quite a few in Congress. On Dec. 2, 1851 the President
expressed his wish that Congress should decide on how to
receive the Hungarian statesman. A heated debate started on
the following day. Foote's move for an official reception was
opposed by Southern Democrats and by radical free-soilers,
who saw a contradiction between welcoming a foreign freedom-
fighter while denying freedom to slaves. Conservatives
denounced Kossuth as a revolutionary. The debate ran for
eight days! Charles Sumner of Massachusetts called Kossuth
``a living Washington,'' while Senator Seward of New York
gave a moving testimony of his significance, as follows:
``Mr. President, in the course of human events, we see the
nations of Europe struggling to throw off the despotic
systems of government, and attempting to establish a
government based upon the principles of republicanism or of
constitutional monarchy. Whenever such efforts are made, it
invariably happens that the existing despotisms of Europe
endeavor to suppress the high and holy endeavor, and to
subdue the people by whom it is made. The consequence is that
despotism has one common cause; and it results that the cause
of civil and constitutional liberty has, in all countries,
become one common cause--the common cause of mankind against
despotism. Now, whatever nation leads the way at any time--at
any crisis--in this contest for civil liberty, it becomes, as
we perceive, the representative of all the nations of the
earth. We once occupied that noble and interesting position,
and we engaged the sympathies of civilized men throughout the
world. No one can deny that now, or recently, Hungary took
that position. We had a messenger on the spot ready to
acknowledge her independence; and this our own proceeding
show that we, in common with the friends of civil liberty
elsewhere, hailed Hungary as such a representative of the
nations of the earth.''
Senator Cass said that while denouncing Russia's
intervention was morally imperative, it did not mean that the
U.S. would send a fleet to European waters. Stephen Douglas
called attention to the fact that Kossuth challenged European
absolutism, the antipode of the basic principles the U.S. had
been built upon and that he was a representative of world
freedom. (Today we might use the expression ``a world whole
and free.'') Finally on Dec. 12 the Senate adopted Seward's
motion with Shield's (Ill.) modification: Kossuth was to be
received exactly like Lafayette had been. There was 36 vote
for that and 6--from the South--against. The House of
Representatives concurred on Dec. 15: 181 for and 16 against,
with Rep. Smith from Alabama saying that if Kossuth continued
to agitate against friendly Austria he should be arrested!
All that shows that while the country came under the spell of
the Hungarian leader, Congress overwhelmingly concurring,
sectional interests and ideological concerns acted as a brake
even in what was hardly more than a symbolic gesture.
Kossuth's train arrived in Washington on Dec. 30. He was
received by Senators Shield and Seward. Secretary Webster
immediately visited him in his hotel, followed by the mayor
and a large number of politicians and various associations,
delegations. The House was still debating about the details
of his reception. On the next day, Dec. 31, Kossuth
[[Page E772]]
called upon President Fillmore. In a masterly speech he
presented the case of Hungary, calling for help. The
President expected only a courtesy call, so in his answer he
told that he personally sympathized with Hungarian
independence, but the policy of the Union would not abandon
the traditions. This should not have been a surprise, but
nevertheless it was a cold shower for Kossuth.
On Jan. 7 Cass, Shields and Seward presented him to the
Senate, and on the same day the House appointed three members
to show him to the House. Kossuth's answer to the welcoming
words of the Speaker was brief but telling. ``It is a
remarkable fact in the history of mankind, that while,
through all the past, honors were bestowed upon glory, and
glory was attached only to success, the legislative
authorities of this great republic bestow the highest honors
upon a persecuted exile, not conspicuous by glory, not
favored by success, but engaged in a just cause.
There is a triumph of republican principles in this fact.
Sir, in my own and my country's name, I thank the House of
Representatives of the United States for the honor of this
cordial welcome.''
On that evening a banquet was given by both Houses in
Kossuth's honor, with 250 attending, including Webster and
two other members of the cabinet. Kossuth gave a non-
controversial speech: ``Happy is your great country, Sir, for
being so warmly attached to that great principle of self-
government. Upon this foundation your fathers raised a home
for freedom more glorious than the world has ever seen. Happy
is your great country, Sir, that it was selected by the
blessing of the Lord to prove the glorious practicability of
a federative union of many sovereign states, all preserving
their state-rights and their self-government, and yet united
in one. Every star beaming with its own lustre, but
altogether one constellation on mankind's canopy.''
Despite a few dissenting voices Kossuth's reception in
Congress was exceptional in both form and substance. Since
the political aims of the Hungarian leader could not be met
by the legislature, he took his message to the country,
embarking on a tour that took him as far as St. Louis in the
West, New Orleans in the South and Boston in the North. There
were moving outpourings of sympathy, and occasionally even
the idea of intervention was endorsed. Much of the financial
contributions were, however, spent by the local hosts on
lavish hospitality--to the grief of Governor Kossuth.
In an epilogue added to the reprinted version of a volume
of Kossuth's speeches published in 1852 Professor Bela Vardy
reminds us: ``Millions of Americans came under his spell . .
. dozens of books, hundreds of pamphlets, and thousands of
articles and essays, as well as nearly two hundred poems were
written to him or about him.'' The names of Emerson,
Longfellow, Horace Greeley, James Russel Lowell, Harriet
Beecher Stowe stand out among those authors. But undoubtedly
the greatest person who was inspired by the exiled Hungarian
leader was Abraham Lincoln. On January 9, 1852, Lincoln said
in the legislature of Illinois: ``We recognize in Governor
Kossuth of Hungary the most worthy and distinguished
representative of the cause of civil and religious liberty on
the continent of Europe.''
Perhaps the most memorable speech of Kossuth was delivered
in Columbus, Ohio, to the legislature on February 7: ``Almost
every century has had one predominant idea which imparted a
common direction to the activity of nations. This predominant
idea is the spirit of the age, invisible yet omnipresent,
impregnable, all-pervading, scorned, abused, opposed yet
omnipotent. The spirit of our age is Democracy. All for the
people and all by the people. Nothing about the people
without the people. That is democracy, and that is the ruling
tendency of the spirit of our age.'' It is quite probable
that these words were remembered by Lincoln, as the
Gettysburg Address echoes Kossuth's definition of democracy.
The influence of Kossuth in the U.S. did not come to an end
with his departure in July 1852. His contemporaries, the
crowds and also the politicians remembered him for a long
time. Many children were named after him. Generations of
Americans grew up associating Hungary with Kossuth and
liberty. Both Theodore and Franklin Delano Roosevelt showed a
remarkable knowledge of and sympathy to Hungary, most
probably going back to 1848 and Kossuth's memory.
In the late 19th and early 20th century hundreds of
thousands of poor Hungarians arrived in the U.S. in search of
employment and a better life. Most of them stayed here. For
these downtrodden immigrant ``Hunkies'' Kossuth represented a
hero, known and respected by their new country, no wonder
that they named streets and buildings after him and erected
statues to him, in Cleveland, New York, Pittsburgh and
elsewhere. In World War II, the warship ``U.S.S. Kossuth''
was built on the donations of Hungarian-Americans.
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 showed that Kossuth's
spirit remained a force inspiring the people of Hungary. The
symbol of the Revolution was the coat-of-arms used by
Kossuth. The new fight of the Hungarians for freedom re-
awakened sympathy throughout the U.S. Following its
suppression, against by Russian arms, tens of Hungarian
refugees were admitted and welcomed by America. Soon a stamp
of Kossuth was issued in the ``Champions of Liberty'' series.
Thirty-three years later the end of communism and Hungary's
role in it was the realization of Kossuth's dreams of an
independent and democratic country. Today Hungary is trying
to live up to the high standards set by its great son.
In 1990, in the middle of another, now bloodless, Hungarian
revolution, on the initiative of Congressman and Mrs. Annette
Lantos, a bust was unveiled in the Capitol in a moving
ceremony in the Rotunda. And now, 150 years after the visit
of Governor-President Kossuth dozens of commemorations are
held in the U.S. reminding the present generation of those
stirring times. I am extremely grateful to the American
people for having preserved the memory of our great leader
and for giving me this unique opportunity to speak in this
magnificent institution, recalling when Kossuth and Hungary
filled the pages of the Congressional Record.
____________________