Fraternity-Testvériség, 1958 (36. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)
1958-10-01 / 10. szám
FRATERNITY 7 RESPONSE TO THE OPENING ADDRESS By GEORGE K. UAYDU National President of the American Hungarian Federation Mr. Postmaster General, Honored Guests, Fellow Americans: As an American citizen of Hungarian descent, I personally find myself emotionally excited and uplifted hy the idea that the memory of a great Hungarian “Champion of Liberty'’’’ is today being honored by the greatest of all “Champions of Liberty” — the United States of America. On behalf of all American citizens of Hungarian heritage, I want to extend my most grateful and heartfelt appreciation for this honor which is being bestowed on one of Hungary’s greatest patriots — LAJOS KOSSUTH. I also would lilce to take particular advantage of this unique opportunity to offer sincere and profound thanks on behalf of all Hungarians living all over the world, outside the shores of our country, who, nevertheless, look eagerly to the United States for leadership and understanding, because in their minds the United States is the greatest bastion of democracy and freedom. All Hungarians know, as all of us here know, that today, when roe honor the memory of LAJOS KOSSUTH, we honor the concept that freedom, liberty and individual integrity are worth supporting and more than worth defending. What, basically, did Kossuth stand for? This word, liberty — what did it mean to him? Well, as a Hungarian-American, my interpretation would be, that by liberty, Kossuth meant exactly the same as what the basic freedoms mean to us; to Kossuth the word liberty meant the freedom of speech; it meant the freedom of assembly and the freedom to worship as one pleases, and above all, it meant the freedom to enjoy full rights, full equality and full justice in the courts of law, whether it be for the solitary individual, or whether it be for a nation as a whole. LAJOS KOSSUTH himself had this to say about the word liberty — and I quote: “During all my life I had but one leading idea — liberty. It was the aim of my life, the aim of
