The Eighth Tribe, 1974 (1. évfolyam, 1-7. szám)
1974-11-01 / 6. szám
Page Eight THE EIGHTH TRIBE November, 1974 THE CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY AMERICAN HUNGARIANS IN THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICA By Noel Joseph Barboe Stephen Parmenias from Buda was the first Hungarian to come to the United States in the year of 1583 as a navigator. He recorded his adventures and the diary he wrote was sent to England’s Queen Elizabeth I. Several Hungarian missionaries came to the United States at about 1650 to begin their work in Philadelphia (they were János Kelp and Tóbiás Sárosay.) Another, Father Konsag, settled westward of the Mississippi River, in California, of which state he was the first to draw a map. Colonel Mihály Kovács participated in the United States’ fight for freedom from Great Britain; he became a commander of the Pulaski Legion, led General George Washington’s best cavalry to victory and was killed while fighting during the year 1779. Still another Hungarian being of great service to the Americans in the War of Independence was Móric Benyówszky. Another worthwhile contribution is the following: In 1834, a book published in Hungary by Sándor Bőlőni Farkas concerned his travels in the United States. His topics included democracy as practiced in the “West, the paradise of freedom.” The book was highly successful and was issued an award from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Still another worthy contributor was Lajos Kossuth, who emigrated to the United States in 1851 as a result of failure to maintain his position as governor of independent Hungary in 1849, stopping for a time in England where he was very well received. The uprising aided by the Russians helping the Hapsburgs, overthrew his newly-formed government, and thus he was forced to emigrate in search of help from the United States. On the way, he was welcomed in Britain by the Lord Mayor of London and mayors of Birmingham and Manchester — he was at a loss for words to express himself and so, created new ones, with the result that he was praised by the English for his ingenuity and richly expressive lectures, giving 600 speeches at about two to three hours long. He finally came to the United States and toured the country from December 5, 1851 to July 14, 1852. His travels extended from Boston, west to Wisconsin, and south to New Orleans. When he returned to Europe, many of his followers remained in this country and actively participated in the Civil War. Ágoston Haraszthy was another contributor to American culture; he was tried in Hungary for some of his political ideas and in 1840 emigrated to the United States as a result. He started up a thriving village in Wisconsin. Later, he founded the first chain store; finally, he settled in Sonoma, California, and introduced the new and best of old Hungarian wineproducing methods to that state and the country. Many of his wine cellars remain in use today. Haraszthy aided the future of California historically. The marriages he arranged between his sons and the daughters of a Mexican governor, Colonel Vale jo, ended Mexican influence in a peaceful manner; this showed great wisdom in preventing future friction, although not without some difficulties, to be sure. He also halted the Russians’ moving in from Alaska by sending home a Russian Orthodox priest with expensive gifts; this again shows the depth of thought and foresight he had. In fact, it relates to keen strategy in preventing great problems from occuring in the future by doing the right thing at the right time. Another contributor of great personal worth was Joseph Pulitzer whose name we hear often today because of the prizes awarded yearly to other great individuals. He was a poor boy of poor parentage, was feeble and had bad vision. He came to the United States in 1864 as a result of recruitment by an American recruiting agent but didn’t last long in the service because of four encounters with the enemy. He was in the Missouri State Legislation and later bought the bankrupt St. Louis Dispatch, which later became the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Still later, he bought the bankrupt paper, the World, which became the New York World-Telegram. This became a topnotch newspaper with a great deal of influence to the press and the country. When he died, he left almost $20,000,000, $2,000,000 of which went to Columbia University in order to establish a School for Journalism — income from this amounting to about a half million dollars goes toward the Pulitzer awards each year. Besides these famous Hungarian Americans mentioned above, there are others who are making contributions in today’s society. They may not all be first generation Americans, but second or even third generation Americans with Hungarian lineage. For example, in the sporting world of football, two men have helped to change one aspect of the game as it is usually known. Formerly, many pro
