General Trends in Us Immigration: an Overview s1

GENERAL TRENDS IN US IMMIGRATION: AN OVERVIEW

IMMIGRATION -> definition -> US: a nation of immigrants

THE COLONIAL PERIOD -> north to south: French, Swedes, Dutch, British, Spanish -> a religious and political asylum and possible source of money -> wars between the colonizers for territory: the British came to dominate -> involuntary immigration: slave trade

THE EARLY REPUBLIC, 1783-1814 -> immigration declines due to developments related to wars -> wars: French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, the War of 1812 -> decision to ban slave trade

THE OLD IMMIGRATION, 1810s TO THE CIVIL WAR -> Scandinavian, Irish, German immigrants: agricultural problems, revolutions of 1848 -> Far Eastern people to the West Coast: cf. railroad construction, 1860s -> estimated number: 6 million btw. 1821 and 1861 -> nativism appears: rejection of poverty, Catholics, etc. ”No Irish Need Apply”

THE CIVIL WAR -> serious decline again: war in the U.S. -> Far Eastern immigration continues and adventurers come to fight

THE NEW IMMIGRATION, 1870s to WORLD WAR I -> two sources: Eastern and Southern Europe and the Far East -> Austria-Hungary and Italy: Catholics, Jews; Russian and Polish Jews -> Chinese and Japanese (the latter are new) -> attitudes: nativism, racial discrimination, abuse, forced into prostitution, religious discrimination, Ku Klux Klan, etc.; quotes from Lodge and Wilson -> a major TUP: FIRST IMMIGRATION RESTRICTION LAW: 1882 vs. the Chinese -> other restrictions: 1917: literacy test, alien enemies and anarchists banned -> cut off by World War I -> estimated number: 26 million

THE NATIONAL QUOTA SYSTEM: 1921 to 1965 -> anti-foreigner feelings riding high during World War I: calls to restrict immigration -> one-year tests, 1921, 1922 -> 1924: Reed-Johnson Act: immigration: 2% of the 1890 census -> admissions above the quota: a> some Jewish refugees in the 1930s and 1940s; b> War Brides Act, 1946: US soldiers abroad could bring new wives back home c> 1948-50: Displaced Persons Acts: political refugees form Iron Curtain countries; d> 1953: Refugee Relief Act: cf. 1956ers -> repeal of the quota system: Lyndon B. Johnson: 1965 Immigration Act

SINCE 1965 -> after World War II: oriental and Hispanic immigrants dominate -> estimated number for 1965-92: 15 million plus illegal immigrants -> a new system of immigration control: 1965 act: relatives, people with special skills, refugees admitted -> 1980: Refugee Act: broadened the description of the category refugee to include all persecuted, and the refugee quota was raised -> 1986: Simpson-Rodino Act: legal status granted to illegal immigrants who had been there for five years, restricted the employment of illegal immigrants

9-11 & BUSH -> nativism resurfacing, a hot issue on the eve of the 21st century -> effects of 9/11 and US VISIT vs.14th Amendment rights -> Bush: amnesty, wall, illegal immigrants’ civil rights movement?

Population: 1790: 3.9 m 1810: 7.3 m -- 1860: 31.4 m 1880: 50.1 m -- 1900: 76 m -- 1920: 105.7 1940: 131.7 m -- 1960: 179.3 m 1980: 203.2 m -- 1990: 248 m -- 2006: 300

Immigration: 1821-60: 2.4 m 1881-1920: 23.5 m 1921-41: 4.6 m 1941-60: 2.6 m 1961-87: 11.8 m est. no. of illegal immigrants, 2006: 17m

MUTUAL IMAGES OF AMERICANS AND HUNGARIANS

 source: direct contacts through visitors, immigrants, media  US in HU: land of plenty, land of unlimited (economic) opportunity, democracy  HU in US: freedom fighters (Kossuth, 1956) + clever scientists  staying power of such images

For consideration: Tibor Frank, “Friend or Foe? The Changing Image of Hungary in the United States,” Hungarian Quarterly, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 148 (Winter 1997), pp. 116-124 and Iván Boldizsár, ”Finding America? The Hungarian Image of America Over a Century,” New Hungarian Quarterly, Vol. XXVII, No. 103 (1986), pp. 60-72. HISTORIANS OF THE HUNGARIAN PAST IN AMERICA

Sándor MÁRKI (1857-1925): university professor at Kolozsvár and Szeged. ”Amerika s a magyarság,” Földrajzi Közlemények, (March 1893): 49-94.

Jenő (Eugene) PIVÁNY (1873-1946): Hungarian-born American banker turned amateur historian turned politician. Hungarian-American Historical Connections from Pre- Columbian Times to the End of the American Civil War (Budapest, 1927); and other minor works.

Géza KENDE (?-1927): Hungarian-American journalist, political activist, amateur historian. Magyarok Amerikában. Az amerikai magyarság története, 1583-1926. 3 vols. (Cleveland, 1927).

Tivadar ÁCS (1901-1974): Hungarian historian, author of many popular books on the subject; problem: rarely used references. Akik elvándoroltak (Budapest, 1940); New-Buda (Budapest, 1941); Magyarok az észak-amerikai polgárháborúban, 1861-1865 (Budapest, 1964).

Ödön (Edmund) VASVÁRY (1888-1977): American Hungarian reformed minister, amateur historian; Vasváry collection, Szeged. Lincoln’s Hungarian Heroes (Washington, 1939) and Magyar Amerika (Szeged, 1988).

Emil LENGYEL (1895-1985): historian, publisher. Americans from Hungary (Philadelphia, 1948).

Julianna PUSKÁS (1929-2005): Hungarian scholar, member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts and Sciences. Kivándorló magyarok az Egyesült Államokban, 1880-1940 (Budapest, 1982). Ties That Bind, Ties That Divide: One Hundred Years of Experience in the United States (New York and London, 2000); and dozens of scholarly articles.

Steven Béla VÁRDY: professor of History, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh. The Hungarian-Americans (Boston, 1985); Magyarok az Újvilágban (Budapest, 2000), and dozens of scholarly articles.

Miklós SZÁNTÓ: former president of the Global Alliance of Hungarians. Magyarok Amerikában (Budapest, 1984); Magyarok a nagyvilágban (Budapest, 1970).

Gyula BORBÁNDI: politician, RFE activist, editor of Új Látóhatár, historian. A magyar emigráció életrajza, 1945-1985. 2 vols. (Budapest, 1989); Emigráció és Magyarország. A nyugati magyarok a változások éveiben, 1985-1995 (Európai Protestáns Magyar Szabadegyetem, 1996).

Nándor F. DREISZIGER: historian at the Royal Military College (Kingston, Ontario), editor of the Hungarian Studies Review. Struggle and Hope: The Hungarian-Canadian Experience (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1982), “Rose Gardens on Ice Floes: A Century of the Hungarian Diaspora in Canada,” HJEAS 6/2 (Fall 2000): 239-58. Zoltán FEJŐS: worked for the Center for Hungarian Studies at the OSZK, now director of the Museum of Ethnography. A chicágói magyarok két nemzedéke, 1890-1940 (Budapest, 1993).

Albert TEZLA: Hungarian-American sociologist. There are many versions of his survey of Hungarian life in the US at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries: The Hazardous Quest: Hungarian Immigrants in the United States, 1895-1920 (Budapest, 1993).

András CSILLAG: Historian at Szeged University, Pulitzer expert. Joseph Pulitzer és az amerikai sajtó (Budapest, 2000).

György MARX: member of the Academy, physicist, amateur historian. The Voice of the Martians. Hungarian Scientists Who Shaped the 20th Century in the West. 3d rev. ed. (Budapest, 2001).

Tibor FRANK: professor at ELTE, historian. Ethnicity, Propaganda, Myth-Making: Studies on Hungarian Connections to Britain and America, 1848-1945 (Budapest, 1998), Double Exile: Migrations of Jewish-Hungarian Professionals through Germany to the United States, 1919-1945 (Bern, 2009).

The DU people: Csaba Lévai (Institute of History), Éva Mathey, István Vida, and Tibor Glant (all NAD) (check websites)

EARLY CONTACTS

The first Hungarians in America:  TYRKER: Leif, son of Erik the Red, cca. 1000, Norwegian chronicle; the debate  István PARMENIUS of Buda: Walter Raleigh and Humphrey Gilbert; 1583: Newfoundland, Delight, storm (Richard HAKLUYT)  missionaries: János KELP (Pietist, Pennsylvania); Baron János RÁTKAY and Nándor KONSÁG (both Jesuits, California, New Mexico)  merchants: from the Adriatic coastal area to New Orleans (e.g. Benjámin SPITZER)

Captain John Smith, adventurer:  the historical debate: a Munchausen-like figure with invented stories and titles or a genuine hero?  supposedly fought the Turks in Transylvania (1600-1602) under Zsigmond Báthori  Jamestown, and the maps of the New England coastline

Hungarians in the American War of Independence:  Col. Mihály KOVÁCS (Kowatch, Kowáts; Fabriczy Kovács Mihály): master of exercise in the Pulaski Legion, died at Charlestown in 1779  Lauzun Legion (part of the French detachment): János POLERECZKY and Ferenc BENYOVSZKY  no reliable estimates of their actual number 19TH CENTURY CONTACTS: HUNGARIAN TRAVELERS IN AMERICA, KOSSUTH AND THE UNITED STATES, THE KOSSUTH EMIGRATION

Travellers, Adventurers, and ”Munchausens”

 Sándor BÖLÖNI FARKAS: public administrator: 1831; escorted Count Ferenc BÉLDY on his trip: Útazás Észak-Amerikában (Kolozsvár, 1834): made America's image in Hungary  Károly NAGY: astronomer, mathematician: 1832-33; met Andrew Jackson, contacts between the Hungarian Academy and the American Philosophical Society  Ágoston HARASZTHY: adventurer, businessman: 1840s; Wisconsin, California, wine culture (California Tokay), a genuine ”Munchausen:” Utazás Éjszakamerikában (Pest, 1844); Grape Culture, Wines and Wine-Making. With notes upon agriculture and horticulture (New York, 1862.)  János XÁNTUS: adventurer, natural scientist: 1840s to 1860s: contributor to the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, founder of the Budapest Zoo, director of the Ethnographic Collection of the Hungarian National Museum, member of the Hungarian Academy, another ”Munchausen” (letters from America, travelogues, mostly invented and/or plagiarized); Levelei Éjszakamerikából (Pest, 1958)

For consideration: Anna Katona, “Hungarian Travelogues on Pre-Civil War America,” in Hungarian Studies in English V. (1971), pp. 51-94

KOSSUTH AND AMERICA

Lajos Koossuth (1802-94)  born: Monok, Zemplen county, gentry, lawyer, local politics (G.W.)  embezzlement of Orphans' Fund money --> 1832: to Parliament for a local noblewoman  Pozsony: political journalism: reform and independence => prison (learns English from Shakespeare and the Bible)  1847: elected to Parliament in his own right  1848-49: no comment  1849-: exile: TR -> Fr -> GB -> US -> GB -> Italy  1851-52: US trip (Tr -> GB: U.S.S. Mississippi, Madrid GB->US: Humboldt; US- >GB: Europa)  1894: died in Turin, Italy, body returned to Hungary

Kossuth and the US in 1848-49: The First Diplomatic Interlude  December 1848: approaches William H. Stiles, the US charge d'affaires in Vienna, to mediate btw. Budapest and Vienna; American mediation offer turned down by Windischgrätz  June 1849: Kossuth sends Damburghy as ambassador to US; he arrives only after Világos  June 1849: Dudley A. Mann, US special representative, arrives in Vienna with instructions to recognize independent Hungary if possible => leads to AUS - US dipl. crisis in 1850 (Hülsemann-letter)  evaluate: Was this the line to follow? What could the US really offer in 1849?

Kossuth in America, 1851-52  arr. December 4, 1851, dep. July 14, 1852  widely toured the US, got lot of media attention, "Kossuth craze"  Goals: o "intervention for non-intervention" (December 11, New York) o financial, moral and military support for Hungarian independence  Touchy issues: o slavery (April 29, Boston, MA) o religion (March 6, St. Louis, MI) o embezzlement charges (April 21, Jersey City, NJ)  Other activities: protocol visits to White House and Congress, visits Washington's grave, talks to women's organizations, etc.  Evaluate: Did he achieve any of his golas?

Effects of Kossuth’s American Visit  myth of a heroic Hungary/freedom fighting Hungarians (cf. New York Times on Count Mihály Károlyi in 1914)  reinforces American ideals  statues (1902, 1928, 1990)  but: myths: Gettysburg address, League of Nations (also the Cold War...)

THE KOSSUTH EMIGRATION AND HUNGARIANS IN THE CIVIL WAR

 New Buda, Iowa (cca. 100 at most), founded by László ÚJHÁZY of Komárom fame; others: János PRÁGAY (the first book in English about 1848-49); Márton KOSZTA (cf. Sziklay); László MADARÁSZ, Jókai and the Zichy diamonds  the first wave of political immigrants, cca. 4000 by the Civil War, military experience  several hundred fought in the CW for the North, no estimates for South  Lincoln Riflemen of Chicago (Géza MIHALÓCZY); Sándor ASBÓTH; Károly ZÁGONYI's death ride at Springfield, Missouri  Asbóth wrote history of the Civil War, the first one in HU  Hungarian contribution: idealism, lack of other possibilities, many ended up in diplomatic service (e.g. Koszta)

For consideration: the mythology of Hungarian participation in the American Civil War: Vasváry, Ács, then Vida (PhD, 2006); see also: Count Béla Széchenyi, Amerikai utam (Pest, 1863) cf. GT article on Széchenyi in Hungarian. THE NEW IMMIGRATION AND TURN-OF-THE CENTURY CONTACTS

Introduction  cca. 26 m people into the US, mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe, and Asia  problems: race, religion, language, ways of life, economic motivation, rejection of Americanization  Hungarians: a new wave: 1.2-1.5 m from the Kingdom of Hungary; Magyars: 4000 to 500,000; the first wave of economic migrants, and the largest to date; peak: 1907

Leaving Hungary Who? Slovaks (26.8), Magyars (26.3), Croats (16.6), Rumanians (6.9) total 1.2 m, over 2 m on the move, 30-40% remigration 65-75% agricultural workers; 75-80: age btw. 15-44; men: women 2:1 by 1910. Why? economic and political reasons: economic: better wages, hope of buying land when returning home; political: minority problems in Hungary, military service (cf. TR); Szabadság, 1909: Tezla, pp. 61-81. Where from? N, NE, SE, S, SW, mostly from territories dominated by the non-Magyar peoples of the country (projection: maps) How? by sea; Continental Pool; Cunard Line; horrible conditions, Ellis Island and the ”keszegárda”; contracts (white slavery) Where to? Mid-Atlantic region, Midwest: 3/4ths to 4 states: PA, NY, NJ and OH (projection: stats) and about a dozen more states (cf. CA); moving on for better jobs; settled together with other immigrants from Austria-Hungary => needed a different attitude The Hungarian government's response: grave concern: the loss of ethnic Hungarians; response: difficult to get passport, banning agitation, deals for cheap trips back, propaganda, consular support; encouraging non-Magyars to emigrate and discouraging their remigration; American Action (What is missing?) American government response: sending fact-finding missions to Hungary (cf. Tibor Frank), calls for immigration restriction, bilateral negotiations with OMM to reduce immigration

Life in America motivation: to make money and return home to buy land => rejection of the American way of life => rejection by the Americans, abuse; ready to migrate within the US for better jobs work: mining, steel industry; 12-14 hours/day for 1.80 USD; no work safety; abuse (hunky) living: boarding house (”burdosház”): sharing beds, food, and the woman to save and send money home: bankers; the saloon: drinking, socializing, press cohesion: organizations (fraternal, sick-benefit), church (RC, PROT, JW, etc.), press (religious ones, plus: Szabadság, Amerikai Magyar Népszava, El_re); sunday schools communication: Hunglish (majna, fektri, peda, burdosház, etc.)

Personal and Political Contacts travelogues: new themes: urbanization, industrialization, success stories of the robber barons: ”admiration mixed with disillusionment” (Katona) key politicians travelling both ways: TR and William J. Bryan visited Hungary; Károlyi, Apponyi and Bethlen in the U.S. (Károlyi: 103, 104-105; 107); Interparliamentary Union illustrious immigrants: Joseph PULITZER diplomatic: consulate in Budapest; matters related to migration, citizenship, etc.; copyright agreement of 1912; Marcus BRAUN; TR and Apponyi in 1906

Images America's image in Hungary: the Bölöni Farkas tradition and the travelogues, migrants' letters home (Puskás J. argues that they reported home only the good things => a false image)

Hungary's and the Hungarians' image in the U.S: 3 elements (1) Kossuth revival (Pivány, Hungarian domestic affairs); TR's media coverage during trip to Hungary; Károlyi and the NYT; aristocrats loving ”wine, women and song”

(2) hunkies: unacceptable to Americans, abuse, abusive language: Ross, Feldman, etc. Edward Alsworth Ross, The Old World in the New. The Significance of Past and Present Immigration to the American People (London, 1914): p. 175:

Their crime record is bad. No alien is more dreaded by the police than a vengeful or drink-maddened Magyar. The proportion of alien Magyar prisoners who have been committed for murder is 35.6 per cent., higher than of any other nationality save the Russians. Their hot-headed and quarrelsome disposition causes personal violence to bulk very large in their crime. In offenses against chastity their showing is bad, but their bent for gainful crime is slight.

Herman Feldman, Racial Factors in American Industry (New York and London, 1931): p. 148:

An example of a dangerous attitude as reported by one investigator is the following excerpt from a conversation: ”How many accidents did you have this month?” one foreman asked. ”Five men and twelve hunkies,” was the reply.

(3) American Action, interference with the religious, political and economic life of the Hungarians in America, the Marcus Braun story: a potentially damage image that did not feature prominently

Wilson and Hungary and the Hungarians:  the charges: he was an expert on Eastern Europe, he did not like the Hungarians, he was angry with them, he wanted to destroy Hungary in Paris, in 1919  none of this is true: he was not an expert, and bore no grudge against the Hungarians (even though he might have)  Wilson on Hungary as an academic: 3 references: The State. Elements of Historical and Practical Politics. Boston, 1889; Constitutional Government in the United States. New York, 1908; and A History of the American People. 5 vols. New York, 1902. (quotes)  the 1912 election campaign: Wilson roasted for Vol. 5: clarifications demanded:

Interview with Kende and public statement for AMNSZ and NYT, dated July 22:

I believe in the reasonable restriction of immigration but not in any restriction which will exclude from the country honest and industrious men who are seeking what America has always offered, an asylum for those who seek a free field. The whole question is a very difficult one but, I think can be solved with justice and generosity. Any one who has the least knowledge of Hungarian history must feel that stock to have proved itself fit for liberty and opportunity.

Campaign address, September 25, Connecticut state campaign:

Why, in that ancient Kingdom of Hungary, for example, contemporary with the great Magna Charta, to which we look back as the source of our constitutional liberties, there was proclaimed upon a notable day the terms of the Great Golden Bull which ran almost in the identical terms of the Magna Charta. But Hungary never could get a foothold for the execution of those principles until she began to send eager multitudes across the ocean to find in America what they had vainly hoped for in Hungary. WORLD WAR I AND THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE

WARTIME DIPLOMACY

U.S. neutrality, August 1914 - April 1917  goals: stay out of it, make money by trading, mediating peace, selling the League of Nations idea (regulated international capitalist world order) to the belligerents  problems: immigrants, election, contraband, submarine warfare  Wilson's attitude twd. OMM: Press conference, December 14, 1914: "It seems to me that the Government of Germany must be profoundly changed, and that Austria-Hungary will got to pieces altogether - ought to go to pieces for the welfare of Europe."  Wilson's policy twd. dismemberment of OMM: April 7, 1914: "It occurs to me that since the Count [Károlyi] is really conducting an active agitation against the present policy of the Austro-Hungarian Government it might not be wise or courteous from the point of view of international courtesy for me to receive him."  (WW refuses to meet Károlyi and all the other separatist politicians from the Monarchy until his change of policy in the summer of 1918.)  a diplomatic crisis: the Dumba affair: Constantin Theodore Dumba, OMM Ambassador in Washington, gets involved in a call for strikes in US munitions factories, issued through the Szabadság; he is declared persona non grata and sent home in November 1915; N.B. no other OMM Ambassador in the US anymore!

The U.S. at war, April 1917 - November 1918  goals: to win the war, to realize Wilson's League of Nations design  problems: at war with Germany but not with its allies (declaration of war on OMM: December 1917, never on Bulgaria or Turkey); military service of "enemy aliens"  way: remove OMM, the weakest link in the Mitteleuropa project  policy: negotiating until April 1918; dismemberment after May 1918  change of policy: secret peace talks unrealistic; Sixtus-affair ends them; Russian crisis and the Czechoslovak Legion: needs them, must recognize the Czechoslovak National Council (Paris: Masaryk, Benes, Stefanik) as a de facto belligerent government  why not an Austrian - Hungarian break? mid-1917: Tisza out; December 1917: LaGuardia plan

THE HUNGARIAN-AMERICANS: THE CRISIS OF LOYALTY

NEUTRALITY:  Contraband produced for the Allies: British blockade; U.S. reluctance to take a firm stand with GB; sabotage => abuse by native-born Americans. Kende in the New York Times after Dumba affair:

"Did the American press and the American people stop to think only a minute what it means for Hungarians in America to manufacture munitions which are intended to kill their own brethren and destroy the houses in which they were born? Don't you see the dark, tragic side of the situation? Is it not a crime against the mother country to help willingly and knowingly the enemies who want to destroy it? Is it not the duty of the Ambassador of Austria- Hungary, even of every good American citizen, to help these poor Hungarians in their desperate situation, and show them a way to get some other peaceful occupation which is not in contrast with their feelings and sentiments?"

 Dumba story: hostility => loyalty demonstrations  lack of central organization, Hungarian Government does not promote propaganda in the U.S. for an independent Hungary; want to sort it out back home

WAR:  status gets even worse: "enemy aliens"  loyalty demonstrations continue; exempted from military service in U.S. army; anti- Hungarian propaganda becomes open  Committee on Public Information (April 1917, George Creel): to create a unified national stand in support of the war effort; the first ever U.S. propaganda ministry; censorship of press; special role of immigrant press recognized: drew immigrant (incl. Hungarian-American) press under CPI control; cf. Creel's final report on the CPI: to "work among the foreign-born;" to "delete the hyphen:" "54 articles based on Government material were released by the [Hungarian] bureau and published in practically all the 28 Hungarian papers extensively."  American-Hungarian Loyalty League founded in January 1918, headed by Konta  division of the Hungarian-American community: March 15, 1918: Konta accuses the Reformed Churches of treason (true: Hungarian government money rolls in through the Swedish Embassy and the Red Cross - to finance pro-Hungarian propaganda) => investigation, but not pushed too far: would have caused domestic unrest (they just cut the money off) => Konta and the AHLL discredited, again no unified stand to support Hungary

PROPAGANDA AND THE PRESS

 images from before the war are transformed by the coming of the Armistice  target of dismemberment propaganda: Hungary, simply because the various propagandists wanted Hungarian territories  most active: Czechs, Yugoslavs; also: Rumanians  U.S. neutrality: very limited interest on the part of the Americans: discussion of the possible future of Mitteleuropa + spy-catching (New York World) + The Fatherland (the German response)  Apponyi campaign in the New York Times: a Russian war against OMM; hits the wrong nerve when writing about the Lusitania:

"What are the few hundred who went down with the Lusitania, deeply though we mourn their lot, in comparison to the hundreds of thousands who are killed by American bullets fired by Russians from American guns, by American explosives, a token of sympathy offered by a peace-loving democracy to the representative of darkest tyranny and wanton aggression?"

 result: TR - Apponyi break, June 1915:

"I thank you for your long and interesting letter. I shall not attempt to go through over the points you raise. Since you have written, the Germans have sunk scores of American men, women and children on the high seas, committing what I cannot but regard cold- blooded murder; and I feel more strongly than ever. The Germans themselves apparently feel very bitterly toward me. I do not feel bitterly toward them; and I have nothing but genuine friendship for the Austro-Hungarians. You do not need to be told my admiration for the Hungarians. Well, when this terrible war is over and when my friends among the warring powers have grown so that they are desirous of seeing me, I shall look forward to seeing them, and you one of the first among them."

 the U.S. at war, esp. after January 1918: anything goes; eg. Konrad Bercovici in the New York Times, March 17, 1918:

"The cruelty and intolerance of the Magyars is as proverbial in the Balkans as is their arrogance and stupidity. Long of arms, bowlegged, with fierce mouth and deep-seated, small eyes, the Magyar is the typical savage of history. Like his brother, the Teuton, he is an abject slave and a horrible master... [After the war, the] mad passions, the blood lust so long repressed of all those thinly veneered barbarians, will be given free play."

 CPI helps create the Mid-European Union in the U.S. during the final months of the war: the federal government, for the first time in U.S. history, gets directly involved in a project that aims to destroy a European great power! (departure from "neutrality in thought as well as in action")

THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE, 1919: THE US AND HUNGARY

PPC  why unique; role of US and Hungary  January 12/18 to early January 1920  Treaties: Versailles (GER), Saint-Germain (AUS); Neuilly (BUL); Trianon (HU); Sevres (TR): revised as Lausanne (1923)  Organization: plenary session -> Council of 5 -> Concil of 4 (the Big Four) -> territorial, business, labor and other commissions (over 100 committees)  League of Nations Covenant (“constitution”): TWW compromise: Article 1 of each treaty

The US at the PPC  ACNP over 1,300 members, five commissioners plenipotentiary (Wilson, House, Lansing, Bliss, and White); head: TWW  Aims: umbrella treaty, LofN  Problems: TWW’s control disintegrates over decision making process; break with House  Compromise: LofN in each treaty BUT territorial haggling  Pattern: other treaties modeled on the GER one  Break: TWW leaves Paris after GER treaty and leaves Frank L. Polk in charge: US gradually waning influence  Treaty Fight: TWW loses battle over GER treaty and LofN in Senate (1918 elections, bad decisions; the Irreconcilables)

HU and the US in 1918-1920  HU: revolutions: Károlyi, HSR, Counterrevolution + inability/unwillingness to defend Kingdom of Hungary (Károlyi vs. Kun)  Successor States: fait accompli: occupy territories and lay claim to them at the peace table  US: marginal interest BUT various missions in or around HU: Creel, Coolidge, ARA, SD (Halstead), etc., attitude: tired of it, want to go home (Davis)  US influencing region: ARA and railroad control: is it against HSR or not?  May 1919: invitation to HU: Fro prevents it: the Q: did we lose territories because of the HSR?  July/Aug 1919: Rumanian invasion, fall of HSR + TWW leaves (Polk comes in): a possible TuP  Inter-Allied Commission of four generals (US: Bandholtz) to supervise armistice  GB-FRO deal about the Middle East and ECE: Clark mission and the coalition govt.  1920: invitation to Paris: must sign; the Millerand letter: false hopes  June 4, 1920: Trianon  US and HU: diplomatic relations started by early 1920: US: business interests, condescension twd. HU (Grant-Smith, Nicholas Roosevelt)  August 29, 1921: separate US-HU peace after similar peace treaties w. GER and AUS REVISIONIST PROPAGANDA

Anti-Trianon propaganda  the myth of the 14 Points;  scapegoating;  unfounded expectations towards the US: uninterested party, must provide justice  how far can HU government go w/o isolating herself politcally

(1) publications  to present Hungary's case: quality press/periodicals for the outside world: The Hungarian Nation, The Hungarian Quarterly; Külföldi Magyarság  series of pamphlets in ENG, GER, and FR: Alajos Kovács, Count Paul Teleki, Jenő Cholnoky

(2) lecture tours  Teleki, 1921: The Evolution of Hungary and Its Place in European History. (New York, 1923): pp. 141-142: political geography + anti-Semitism charges and excuses  Apponyi, 1923: The Memoirs of Count Apponyi. (New York, 1935): pp. 197-198; 199; 203-204. LofNs loan for HU but: Apponyi vs. Jászi: wants to use US money to get Habsburgs back => “red bolshevik2 vs. “white bolsehvik”

(3) Kossuth Pilgrimage  Géza D. Berkó (AMNSZ): becomes an all-HU project  March 15, 1928: unveiling on Riverside Drive (Columbia Campus)  Kossuth Pilgrimage: HU delegation (incl. White House reception)

(4) World Congresses of Hungarians  1929: Buffalo, NY: launched  1938: Budapest: St. Stephen memorial year => Hungarian World Federation est.

(5) Justice for Hungary: a slogan with three meanings: (a) an article, (b) a book, and (c) a transatlantic flight:  the article: The Daily Mail (GB), June 21, 1927: ”Hungary's Place in the Sun”: Lord Rothermere (Radomér apó) calls for revision of Trianon;  the book: Justice for Hungary. Review and Criticism of the Effect of the Treaty of Trianon. (London, 1928); also in Hungarian;  the flight: funding: Emil Szalay and Lord Rothermere; pilots: György Endresz and Sándor Magyar; the plane: Justice for Hungary; date: July 15-16, 1931; route: Grace Harbor, NY to Bicske, crash-landing; evaluation: propaganda w. mixed results. BETWEEN THE WARS: DIPLOMACY, IMMIGRATION, LIFE IN AMERICA

Diplomacy

 full, bilateral relations of the first time: Late 1919, officially exchange of Ministers, January 1922  3 dimensions: political, economic, and cultural

Political ties  separate U.S.-Hungarian peace treaty w/o Trianon borders => false expectations: the U.S. might help; lack of interest returns => disappointment;  new phase: full diplomatic relations established (Széchenyi, Pelényi; Grant-Smith, Brentano, Wright, Nicholas Roosevelt, Montgomery);  American acceptance of Horthy  some touchy political visits (Huszár, Teleki, Apponyi; MacArthur, CEIP delegation);  provides leeway for anti-Trianon propaganda and policy for Hungary in the U.S.  HU seeks US support until the rise of Hitler and German revisionism

Economic ties  League of Nations loan and Jeremiah Smith;  trade: 1925: MFN

Cultural ties  exchange programs btw. universities (Szeged, Pécs, Kosáry, Erzsébet Kol);  statues (Kossuth and Bandholtz);  Kossuth pilgrimage, 1928;  July 4th in Budapest;  debate over movie business;  Nyári Egyetem, Debrecen (1927 and on, 1st American: 1933).

Immigration

 1924 Reed-Johnson Act: the national quota system introduced, 473 Hungarians/year; later 896/year  exceptions: religious and political refugees after WWI (Oszkár JÁSZI) and during the 1930s and 1940s (Béla BARTÓK, the nuclear scientists); family reunions approved  how to cheat guides in American-Hungarian calendars  new trend: artisans, people w. special skills, who wanted to live there: ready to Americanize => accepted by native-born Americans: win-win for majority society and HU communities  US gates closing: new targets: esp. Canada (1920s: cca. 30,000; cf. quota of 473/year), Latin-America (Albrecht action), Australia. Life in the US

 US: anti-immigrant sentiments and politics: Congressional investigations, Reed-Johnson Act, etc.  new realities: no way back home (Trianon) => must stay there => changes in attitudes:  Americanization accepted => a new trend of taking out U.S. citizenship;  the second generation learns English and goes to U.S. schools, loss of Hungarian national identity;  moving to the cities: Little Hungaries established (Buckeye Rd., Cleveland, Toronto);  new and better-paying professions;  anti-Trianon propaganda (cf. Birinyi Kossuth Lajos);  HU interest in he communities: religious survey missions, World Federation;  new trends in press, organizations, folklore, literature, etc.

Images of America in Hungary

 info: travel writing (like Dualist period) + popular culture: film and pulp fiction (cf. Rejtő)  systematic, academic study begins: esp. American government and democracy  know-it-all attitude (Szabó quotes)  Left: special interest in the New Deal and FDR  proper geographical survey and descriptions (Cholnoky, since 1917)

Americans on Hungary

 Harry Hill Bandholtz, An Undiplomatic Diary, by the American Member of the Inter- Allied Military Mission to Hungary, 1919-1920, Maj. Gen. Harry Hill Bandholtz, U. S. A. (New York: Columbia UP, 1933)  Nicholas Roosevelt, A Front Row Seat (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1953)  John Flournoy Montgomery, Hungary, the Unwilling Satellite (new York: Devin- Adair Co, 1947)

Evaluation and Outlook

 the Hungarian-Americans become Americans  full official relations established btw. the two countries  propaganda and some sympathy for Hungary  late 1930s and early 1940s: new problems and World War II WORLD WAR II

Before the War

 new trends in Hungarian life in America: second generation assimilates;  political and religious refugees above the quota: Béla Bartók, and various scientists associated with the Manhattan Project;  the Vienna awards: Trianon revised w. German help (buying support);  John F. Montgomery (US minister to Hungary, 1933-41) and the "unwilling satellite" (Hungary, the Unwilling Satellite. New York, 1947, in Hungarian: 1993) + Horthy

The War

FDR's diplomacy

 two policies side by side: o the four policemen and Soviet domination of Eastern Europe; and o Otto von Habsburg and the revitalization of Austria-Hungary.  decision: November 1944, Moscow: three parallel talks: Churchill and Stalin; Rákosi and Molotov; the Faragho mission (Horthy's attempt to exit);  sanctioned: Yalta, February 1945 (vs. ”The Declaration of Liberated Europe”).

Hungarian-Americans

 fewer problems with loyalty than in WWI: assimilation, etc.  rejection of Hungarian government policies: G. Paloczy-Horvath, In Darkest Hungary. (London, 1944);  for a new and better Hungary: the ”free Hungary” movements: potential governments in exile and Montgomery picked up;  rivalries: lack of HU lobby AGAIN (like in WWI) (1) right-wing, conservative: ”Movement for an Independent Hungary” (Tibor Eckhardt, János Pelényi); (2) left-wing: ”American Federation of Democratic Hungarians” (Károlyi, Jászi, Rusztem Vámbéry); ”Hungarian-American Council for Democracy” (Béla Lugosi) (3) monarchists: Otto von Habsburg;  problems: Czechs and Yugoslavs, GB and US decide by 1942: non-recognition;  Hungarians in the Manhattan Project: Teller, Wigner, Neumann, Szilárd Hungary and the US

 US and GB: seen as the alternative to Germany (cf. Kállay and “double dealing”);  the story of the declaration of war (Herbert Pell and Premier Bárdossy; Horthy);  Hungary informs Berlin that actual war with the US out of the question;  continue secret talks for a separate peace (esp. Turkey, e.g. Szent-Györgyi): armistice agreement ready by late 1943 => German occupation in March 1944

The US and Hungary

 no hostility, seen as under German influence (Pell: ”I know that you are doing this under heavy pressure from Germany, and that the declaration reflects no hostility on the part of the Hungarian people towards the people of the United States.”);  part of a broader game: FDR in Cairo: the four policemen idea: spheres of influence: background for the ”percentage deal” in December 1944;  Truman's late bid to reverse this policy fails (focus on Poland - geography);  negative response: deportation of Hungarian Jews (FDR's proclamation).

AFTER THE WAR

 spheres of influence agreements click in: Hungary in the Soviet Zone: takeover by 1947;  February 1947: 2nd Trianon Treaty  late 1947: SD recommends giving up on HU  Hungary: ”guilty nation”: justifies Soviet looting but Horthy excluded from Nürnberg Trials by Stalin (a puzzle to day);  three new waves of immigrants to the US (45ers, 47ers, 56ers);  enemies for the first time: esp. 1947-1969, then ”normalization”.

QUESTION: Which lessons of World War I were learned by both countries? U.S.-HUNGARY: POSTWAR IMMIGRATION

POLITICAL BACKGROUND

 end of World War II: US - SU rivalry, Hungary in the Soviet zone, occupied by SU troops  cca. 1m Hungarian refugees in the West (1m losses in war + 600,000 on “malenkij robot”)  US gets hold of Hungarian gold reserves and the Holy Crown: restitution (Sándor Hahn)  1947: Trianon II: Hungarian frustration over injustice repeated  1946-48: communist political takeover in Hungary: coalition government (Ferenc Nagy in exile, Switzerland, telephone call) => Rákosi regime (summer of 1947)  US-Hungarian relations hit rock bottom, e.g. US prevents Hungarian entry into the UN, mutual expulsion of diplomats, mock trials, Korean War, 1956, etc.

POSTWAR IMMIGRATION TRENDS:

 influences: political situation + quota system (until 1965)  four generations side by side: (1) TuC survivors; (2) the interwar second generation; (3) prewar refugees; (4) postwar refugees: 45ers, 47ers and 56ers (+ since 1980s)

THE 45ERS

 1945-47: cca. 16,000, mostly the leading elite of the interwar years (cf. ”úri közép- osztály” people)  little prestige: associated with fascism and nazism (in the US)  non-marketable professions: military and law degrees, no English spoken  political goals rather mixed: three main groups: o legitimists; o free electionists; o Horthy supporters.

THE 47ERS

 1947 to early 1950s: cca. 10,000, mostly coalition government people (1945-47)  against both Horthy and communists: very well received: incl.: social democrats, small- holders  more marketable professions, many spoke English  prestige => Cold War related jobs: eg. Radio Free Europe  prestige: although out of touch with both older immigrants and 45ers, they were looked upon as the true voice of the Hungarian-Americans COMMON FEATURES OF 45ERS AND 47ERS

 the first time Hungarian political refugees go to the US in large numbers  in a must-leave situation: political refugees  did not mix with older immigrants: political rather than economic immigrants; culture; education; social status, etc.  reception: ”sponsors” among the older immigrants (cf. DP acts) but refuse to mix => tension inside the community => dozens of different organizations  reflects the traditional division of the Hungarians both at home and in the US  NOT the largest Hungarian community outside the country

THE 56ERS

 cca. 50,000, young single males in their 20s and 30s (32,500 allowed in by Ike)  apolitical: left Hungary because they suddenly could  social background: new uniform socialist society members  education: non-nationalist, international ideas, practical: fit into US well  very well received: Freedom Fighters, identified with Kossuth, etc.  integration: no contacts with older immigrants, wanted to Americanize, intermarriage  their turnaround: 20-25 yrs later: beginning to miss Hungarian culture  veterans and 56ers: activists and the end of the Cold War

LIFE IN THE US

 political activity: single issue campaigns (1956, Holy Crown), Hungarian minority in Rumania (MFN and minorities)  BUT: division: numerous organizations, lack of unified stand  press and local radio stations (Kálmán Rádió, NYC)  academics: Szilárd, Teller, Szent-Györgyi, social scientists: Deák, Király, Várdy; conductors: Solti, Dohnanyi; sportsmen: Joe Namath (NFL: NY Jets), Karch Kiraly; Soros, etc.  publishing: East European Monographs, FRAMO, Szivárvány (Ferenc Mózsi), Sándor Márai  since the 1980s: exchange programs, GE training, etc.: new migration, usu. temporary, no estimates available  Hungarian visitors: who can write about them and what (Szántó, Vitray): travel literature as a substitute for American Studies

THE POST-1989 MIGRANTS

 Estimate: 30,000 plus, mostly from HU and Transylvania: ministers and priests, intellectuals (brain drain), and people who have overstayed their tourist visas  Problems: Simpson-Rodino and amnesty  Result: visa fees introduced y the US although we are NATO allies; now: visa waiver U.S.-HUNGARIAN RELATIONS SINCE 1945

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

 relations include: diplomatic, cultural, economic (usu. in that order)  twists: Hungary in the Soviet zone => NO independent Hungarian foreign policy  political considerations => economic and cultural relations on the decline  opening up: 1970s: (1) Hungary needs economic ties with the west; (2) detente: US- Soviet relations make it possible  periods: (1) 1945-47: Transition; (2) 1947-69: Hostility; (3) 1969-78: Normalization; (4) 1980s: Out of the Soviet zone

TRANSITION: 1945-47

 communist takeover in Hungary step by step; completed by 1949: by then US- Hungarian relations w. skeleton crews at the legations  American gestures to test Hungarian intentions: restitution: art treasures, Holy Right, gold and silver of the Hungarian National Bank  Yalta and Trianon (1947): Hungarians feel betrayed and disillusioned w. the Americans  Soviet occupation and communists in power => conscious policy of deconstructing relations (also in Cz, Rum, Yug)  late 1947: the State Department gives up on Hungary (cf. Ferenc Nagy story)

HOSTILITY: 1947-69

 NOT the normal state of relations: hostility due to outside force (Hungarians preserve positive image of US; cf. ”promised land”)  mutual expulsion of business people and diplomatic staff (e.g. Vogeler)  Holy Crown  US keeps Hungary out of the UN for quite some time  1956 and Mindszenty  1962: secret contacts established: János Radványi in D.C. as Charge and partial amnesty by Kádár for those who were not involved in armed resistance (1963)  Hungarian mediation offer in Vietnam  American offer to raise relations to ambassadorial level  BUT: Radványi deserts (1967) => a major setback  1969: János Nagy to D.C. as ambassador, exchange of letters btw. Nixon and Hungary addressing some key issues NORMALIZATION: 1969-78

 ordinary relations established through heavy bargaining: a new US policy of divide and rule in the Soviet zone  kick-off: exchange programs: KKI and IREX and Ford Foundation (1969): social sciences  settling the outstanding issues: o Mindszenty out of US embassy in Budapest (1971) o claims settlement (Since WWI and WWII) o consular agreement o cultural and scientific cooperation o Holy Crown returned o trade agreement (MFN; March 1978)  Vietnam: Hungarian cooperation in supervising the armistice (1973-75)  Helsinki: CSCE, 1975 (cooperation in preparation: 1973-75)  MALEV and IBUSZ offices in the US, easier to travel  mutual visits of key people and delegations  1978: a symbolic end: Holy Crown and MFN

OUT OF THE SOVIET ZONE: THE 1980S

 problems in the Soviet block: Afghanistan, Poland (Solidarity), old communist leaders die, total collapse: Gorbachev: ”glasnost” and ”perestroika”  Hungary: 1982-83: IMF and World Bank membership (independent course, but also: the Soviet Union needed money for Afghanistan)  VP George Bush's visit to BP, the highest-level visit to communist Hungary (1989)  1989  since then: o Partnership for Peace; NATO o Gulf War and Hungarian attitudes and news reporting o media transformation; open pro-American stand by Hungarian governments (”Coca-Colonization”) o all outstanding issues settled except the visa

SUMMARY the most peculiar stage in relations: outside constraints on independent Hungarian foreign policy + US active in the Cold War => statues come and statues go...