Hungarian American Coalition News, 1997 (6. évfolyam, 1-2. szám)
1997 / 1. szám
Hungarian American Coalition White House Briefing and the Coalition’s Annual Board Meeting and Traditional Mikulás Dinner in Washington, D.C. The Coalition elected its Officers and Board at its Sixth Annual Board Meeting held on December 7, 1996, at the Kossuth House in Washington, DC The weekend’s Coalition-sponsored activities began on Friday, December 6, with a White House Briefing with featured speakers Marylin DiGiacobbe, Associate Director, Office of Public Liaison; Daniel Fried, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director, Central and Eastern Europe, National Security Council; Rudolph Perina, Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs, Department of State; and Dr. Donald F. Herr, Assistant for Plans and Policy, NATO Policy Office, Department of Defense. A Uvely discussion included topics such as collective rights for national minorities, the need for Romania to return nationalized church properties, the prospects for accelerated entry of Hungary into NATO, and ways to effectively assure the participation of Hungarian-American organizations in U.S. assistance projects in Hungary. In the evening we held the traditional festive and elegant Mikulás Dinner at the German Embassy House, where our German Embassy host Count Nikolaus Lambsdorff greeted 74 dinner guests. The Hungarian American Coalition elected its officers and Board at the Coalition’s sixth Annual Meeting, held Saturday, December 7, 1996, at the Kossuth House in Washington, DC. The following officers were elected: Rev. Imre Bertalan, Chairman; Edith Lauer, President; Vice Presidents Gábor Bodnár (since then deceased), Rev. István Mustos, Dr. Balázs Somogyi, and Rev. Francis Vitéz. Also elected were Julius Várallyay, Secretary; and Zsolt Szekeres, Treasurer. Of the Coalition’s 29 Board members, 21 attended the Meeting representing organizations from as far away as Denver, Seattle, and Hawaii. The Board members reelected Rev. Imre Bertalan and Paul Fekete to three-year terms as individual members. Following the Annual Meeting, the new Board approved several resolutions concerning future projects including the co-sponsorship of the Seventh Annual Human Rights Workshop, as well as the continuation of the White House Internship by Ameritech. In addition, the Coalition expressed its continuing commitment to exploring areas of cooperation with fellow Hungarian American organizations. The Board unanimously accepted two new organizational members, the time honored American Hungarian Federation and the SeatÜe-Pécs Sister Cities Association.
