Fraternity-Testvériség, 1963 (40. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1963-07-01 / 7. szám
4 FRATERNITY conduct the greatest American orchestras. But few remember that the first really outstanding symphony in the New World, the Boston, was the handiwork of Arthur Nikisch, who started his phenomenal career in Budapest. Since that time literally hundreds of Hungarian musicians and singers of renown have enriched American musical culture. Kossuth’s one-time officers, as new Americans, considered it their duty and privilege to serve in the Union Army. There is a long list of them in the military annals of the country. Julius Stahel of Szeged even merited the Congressional Medal of Honor for being instrumental in saving Washington from the Southern forces creating a well-nigh untenable situation at the Battle of Bull Run. President Wilson himself placed a memorial wreath on the grave of Stahel, who rests near such a national great as Major Pierre L’Enfant, planner of the capital city, with an awe-inspiring panorama of all Washington. Another Hungarian of Civil War fame is Charles Zágonyi, the liberator of Springfield, Missouri; also General Asboth, who became American envoy to Argentina, and many others. The most colossal statue anywhere, the Statue of Liberty, perhaps would not stand in New York Harbor were it not for a penniless immigrant from Hungary, who collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for its huge granite pedestal. The name of crusading journalist Joseph Pulitzer stands for American achievement even in the form of the literary prizes, and Columbia University School of Journalism, both of which he so generously endowed. Or, can we look up into the sky and see jet planes zig-zagging across it without Theodore Kármán’s name coming to mind for setting the pace early in the century of the law of air waves? Who knows which side would have won World War II without his rockets, which by now have inaugurated an entirely new age beyond the horizon? Or who can forget the late mathematical wizard, John Neumann, presaging the wonderful world of computers? Another recipient of the Fermi Award, Edward Teller, was in the forefront in developing atomic and hydrogen energy, thus assuring world leadership for the United States. One of the most touching awards recently was handed to an octogenarian, Dr. Béla Schick, consisting of a million signatures of those whose lives were saved by his diphtheria serum. Professors Békéssy and Szent-Györgyi augmented the number of American scientists who merited the coveted Nobel Prize. And the list of first-rate talent which enriched theatre and film life in the United States is a long and illustrious one, beginning with the pioneer days of mass entertainment media. Indeed, contributions to the performing and visual arts by Hungarians proved to be of lasting value, all of which are to be featured attractions in 1964. Shall we continue? Instead, we turn to our readers to offer novel suggestions which may have been omitted from the already submitted ‘pilot plan”, the first to circulate in high Washington circles from any nationality source. If anyone wishes to contribute such ideas, the American Hungarian Federation (206 Dupont Circle Building, Washington 6, D, C.) will happily forward them to those in charge. B. P. B.
