[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 20342-20344]
[From the U.S. 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 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

[[Page 20343]]

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 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

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     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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