Calvin Synod Herald, 1973 (73. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1973-02-01 / 2. szám
REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA 5 George Washington Statue in Budapest A Gift From Hungarian Immigrants in America Sixty-seven years ago, in 1906, the statue of George Washington was unveiled in the City Park in Budapest. It was a gift from Hungarian immi-REPLICA OF THE GEORGE WASHINGTON STATUE. The replica is by Gustav Szász and is in the museum collection of the American Hungarian Studies Foundation. grants living in America. They sought to express their gratitude to the memory of Washington and to honor their adopted country while not forgetting the land of their birth. Today, the statue of George Washington continues to stand in the City Park of Budapest. In one sense, it is a symbol of the hundreds of thousands of Hungarian immigrants and their children, who found a new home in America and made outstanding contributions to the life of the United States. The distinguished annual George Washington Award of the American Hungarian Studies Foundation was also inspired in name and symbolism by the Washington statue erected in Budapest. That outstanding and historical occasion in 1906 was achieved only with painstaking effort, which included winning approval for the idea in Budapest and receiving wide support in America. It was no mean achievement to meet both these challenges. The idea of erecting a statue to the memory of Washington in Budapest sprang into being prior to the unveiling of the statue of Louis Kossuth in 1902 in Cleveland. In the same year, Tihamér Kohányi, the editor-publisher of the American Hungarian daily, Szabadság, made public plans for a Washington statue in Budapest. A booklet announcing these plans was published in English and in Hungarian. It reproduced copies of numerous letters Kohányi received from prominent American figures, who praised and supported the idea. Governors, senators, congressmen, mayors, judges, and editors, including William Jennings Bryan and former president Grover Cleveland, wrote in glowing terms about the plan. The idea caught the imagination of thousands of Hungarian immigrants and fired the will of American Hungarian businessmen. They were devoted citizens of their new land, but they also had great affection and concern for the land of their birth. They were dreaming great dreams. They saw the time when a closer relationship would exist between America and Hungary. The erection of the Washington statue was not to be a passing event, but rather a historical marker, which would tie Hungary closer to America. Furthermore, they felt, that later Ameriean-Hungarian generations would be directed toward Hungary in thought, in concern and in appreciation through such a symbol. On February 13, 1905, in Cleveland, Ohio, the Budapest Washington Monument Association was chartered. At the charter meeting, Kohányi, who was a giant of endurance and steadfast spirit, as president of the association reported that over
