cyrus vance's gift
President Carter's subversion of Hungarian Independence
Like the British crown jewels or the American Liberty Bell, every state has physical relics that confer national identity. In Hungary, that relic is the Crown of St. Stephen. King Stephen, later canonized, received the crown from Pope Sylvester II in the year 1000. At that time, the crown symbolized the allegiance of the kingdom of Hungary to the Roman Catholic Pope and, consequently, a degree of independence from the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto III. Stephen's crown ceremony was held on the first day of the new millenium, signifying the establishment of the new nation of Hungary at the start of a new age.
Over the course of that millenium, the crown was repeatedly plundered, stolen, and even pawned. Finally, in 1945, Hungarians desperate to prevent the crown from being stolen by the approaching Soviet Red Army smuggled it out of the country and turned it over to the custody of American forces.
Secured in Fort Knox, American policy from the end of World War II until 1978 was to retain custody of the crown until it could be returned to a freely elected Hungarian government. Unfortunately, with the election of Jimmy Carter appeasement of communist governments was the order of the day. Carter, who cynically appealed to the Soviet Union for assistance in both of his presidential campaigns, fancied himself the "human rights" president, but was willfully blind to human rights abuses in the Soviet Bloc - and with his recent trips to Cuba seems to remain so to this day.
The official policy regarding the Crown of St. Stephen was abandoned by Carter at the urging of his secretary of state, Cyrus Vance. Vance, a protege of Robert McNamara, was considered so friendly to communist regimes that the KGB attempted to recruit him as an agent. In a ceremony led by Vance, the crown was handed over to the Communist government of Hungary on 6 January 1978 as a reward for Hungary's "strong human rights record." This act, instead of rewarding the Hungarian people in fact served to legitimize the communist dictatorship ruling the country. Carter, in his continuing effort to "normalize" relations with the Soviet Bloc, stole from the Hungarians an opportunity to have a truly meaningful celebration centered around the return of the crown eleven years later - the year Hungary was liberated from communism.
It is for this reason, among so many others, that Carter will be remembered as history's greatest monster.
16.07.2003 © ljr