Mark Imre Major : American Hungarian Relations 1918-1944

The United States emerged from World War I as potentially the strongest power on earth. Although the war created a new isolationism in the United States, it made clear for Europeans that no political affairs could be settled henceforth without the involvement of America. This fact created a new situation in Eastern European politics too. During the war and later, the Eastern European nations realized more and more the uniqueness of the United States. No nation in history ever had such a large number of people who were citizens by choice and not by birth. Furthermore, a considerable number of this large pre-war immigration came from Eastern Europe.

It is a fact that an emigrant, whatever the cause of his emigration, always preserves something from his past. Relations and sentiments toward the old country do not cease by the mere fact of emigration. The fact is that by emigration one can choose a new country as his home, but one cannot choose a new nationality. Eastern European politicians realized this fact as early as the war, and they began to look upon Americans of different nationality as their own national stock who had left their mother country for good or ill, but had in the meantime maintained their original nationality. For many Eastern European politicians, it seemed to be in the national interest to maintain the ties and friendship of the

emigrants with their mother country. In America, propaganda was started on a large scale, and American citizens from different Eastern European stock, especially the Slavs, cried for justice for the oppressed peoples of their mother country.⁽¹⁾

After World War I, it was quite natural that Hungary, too, should follow the same political tactics and try to make the Hungarian emigration an important part of her revisionist politics. Hungary realized immediately after the war that the United States was the only state--except the successor states--which had a large Hungarian population. This fact was quite significant, for, after Budapest, New York was the largest "Hungarian city", with a popula tion of 115,098 Hungarians. Cleveland had 39,545; Chicago 30,420; Detroit 22,312; St. Louis 21,110; Philadelphia 14,321; and Milwaukee 6,848 Hungarian speaking inhabitants.⁽²⁾ The fact was at hand for future politics. This large Hungarian emigrant population could and must be used in diplomacy concerning Hungary's case. Before discussing this question, let us examine the Hungarian immigrant in America.

Historical Survey of the Hungarian Immigration

The Hungarian emigration has a colorful past although it was small in number until the late nineteenth century.⁽³⁾ The first recorded American Hungarian was Michael Kovats, Colonel Comman-

dant of the Pulaski Legion during the War of Independence. Kovats was born at Karcag, Hungary, in 1724, and died in the battle of Charlestown on May 11, 1779. Dr. Joseph Johnson, Charlestown physician, recorded in his Traditions and Reminiscences: "The British buried him where he fell, on the west side of the road, in the land now owned and enclosed by John Margart, at the corner of Hugar Street. He was an officer of great merit, a Hungarian by birth".⁽⁴⁾ His widow, unable to visit her husband's grave, erected a memorial chapel to his memory near the church of Szinne, Hungary. There it stands to this day, surrounded by old lime trees, recalling the memory of the Hungarian officer of hussars who died in action for the liberty of the United States of America.

The other Hungarian officers of the War of Independence were the Benyovsky brothers; Count Maurice Augustus Benyovsky and Count Ferenc Benyovsky. Count Maurice A. Benyovsky turned up at Philadelphia in 1872 with a letter of recommendation from Benjamin Franklin which he transmitted to General Washington, offering his blood, skill, and courage to America. The Count stated furthermore that he would raise an army of 3,483 men in Germany, clothe, arm, and transport it into the United States, all for the sum of 518,000 livres. America would agree to pay his men monthly stipends and provide them with grants of land.⁽⁵⁾ Congress referred the plan to a committee headed by James Madison. It was rejected. His younger brother, Count Ferenc Benyovsky, was an officer in Lausun's Legion and died as a veteran in America in 1798. News of American events penetrated Hungary more effectively during the first part of the nineteenth century through travelers and writers. One of the most successful among them was Sandor Boloni Farkas. Boloni Farkas came to America in 1831 as the secretary of Count Ferenc Beldy. He covered 2,450 miles in the United States and wrote an instructive book about his experiences,

Utazas Eszak-Amerikaban (Journey in North America) published in Kolozsvar, Hungary, in 1835. The book was so popular that it reached two editions in a short time. Boloni Farkas painted contrasting pictures of the American and Hungarian ways of life and revealed America's attractions for prospective immigrants. He found Philadelphia attractive and distinguished and observed incredulously that there was no police force in evidence at the Mint. confiding to the director that every single person in such a place in Europe would be watched by three other persons.

Visiting Washinton, he and his employer called at the White House as a matter of routine courtesy, and were surprised to be offered an audience with President Jackson, whom they found to be a gay and friendly elderly man, wearing only a black husiness suit with no badge of office.

In Boston Boloni Farkas remarked that his host's table was appointed with as much luxury as that of a European aristocrat. He marveled at how school-minded Americans were: while they did not like to pay taxes, they readily taxed themselves to support their schools. In every town, no matter how small, he found public libraries. Inquiring about wages, he was told that unskilled labor was paid as much as a dollar and sometimes two dollars a day in comparison with Hungary, this was fabulous, indicating one of the main causes of the large immigration to come. The message Hungary received from his book was that "America is a happy land, America is progressive, America is young". As his 500-ton ship, Albania, set sail for Eurooe, he exclaimed: "Farewell. glorious country. Keep on being the eternal defender of man's rights. Keep on being the inspiration of the oppressed".⁽⁶⁾

Another Hungarian, not many vears later also found an America he had never expected to find. This man was Agoston Mokcsay Haraszthy, author of the two-volume book Utazas Eszak-Amerikaban (Journey in North America) published by Gustav Heckenast in

Pest, Hungary, in 1844. Haraszthy found that "nothing daunts the American and no impediments can halt him in carrying out his design. The boundless energy and self-assurance characterizing the American above all other nationals are truly breathtaking. He seems to live twice the span of others and to accomplish a hundred times more. He rises early and he begins his work without delay. He reads his paper while having his breakfast, so as to waste no time".⁽⁷⁾

Agoston Mokcsai Haraszthy translated his admiratio!n for America into deeds. He returned to Hungary and then came back to the United States with his family. Haraszthy chose to settle in a fertile region of Wisconsin and bought a tract of ten thousand acres from the government. There he established a village which was named for him - Haraszthy -- it later became Westfield and is now called Sauk City, twenty miles from Madison.

Haraszthy was active in settling immigrants and left his mark in Sauk City before he departed in 1849.⁽⁸⁾ He founded a Humanist society in 1845, an organization of free thinkers which spread throughout Wisconsin. The society, established for intellectual and cultural purposes, had such far reaching results that Sauk City became known widely in Europe as "Free Thinkers Heaven". The organization still exists there and a related group is active yet in Milwaukee. ⁽⁹⁾

In 1849, Haraszthy ran into debt and was forced to sell his land in Sauk City. He went to California and was among the first to notice the great wine-growing potentialities of California. The eighteenth century Franciscans had already laid out vineyards and the missions had their wineries. Haraszthy decided to work on that foundation. He introduced cuttings of Muscat Alexandria grape and Zinfandel red wine grape. Later he imported two hundred

thousand vine cuttings, including the most important European varieties. Due largely to Haraszthy's initiative, California was to produce most of the nation's wine. Half a million California acres were to be turned over to viticulture, second only to orange growing in the State's agricultural economy.⁽¹⁰⁾

If American Hungarians ever had a hero it was Lajos Kossuth, the leader of the Hungarian war of independence in 1848. Americans sympathized with all the liberal revolutionary movements, but the Hungarian struggle particularly appealed to them. One reason may have been that the Hungarian republic was supposed to be modeled on the United States. Among the western powers, only the United States of America intended to recognize Kossuth's regime as a defacto government, but independent Hungary was destroyed before the American agent reached the country. The American government next turned its attention to Kossuth himself, who had escaped from Hungary into Turkey where he was held prisoner for two years. America helped secure his release and sent a naval vessel to bring him to the United States. Arriving in New York on December 5, 1851, he met with great popular enthusiasm and official honors. In Washington, Kossuth dined with President Fillmore and received a special banquet from Congress. There Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, said that Americans would rejoice in seeing a model of the United States on the lower Danube and that Hungary ought to be "independent of all foreign powers". ⁽¹¹⁾

Kossuth visited several cities and delivered over three hundred public addresses throughout the United States. America fell in love with him. Books were written about him; streets, cities, and counties were named after him. To this very day Iowa has a

Kossuth County, and there is a Kossuth in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, and in Mississippi. Children were named after him. There was a gentleman in Cleveland whose name was E. K. Willcox - Eljen (Long Live) Kossuth Willcox. ⁽¹²⁾

Some of the Kossuth soldiers also came to America. Among them the most interesting figure was Laszlo Ujhazy, former Lord Lieutenant of County Saros, and ex-government commissioner of the Danubian fortress, Komarom. Ujhazy conceived a political idea which, at that time, was unique. He wanted to build up a large Hungarian community, a New Hungary, in the United States which, by its votes, would exert a pressure on Washington to back the Kossuth solution of the Hungarian problem. Ujhazy wanted all of the Hungarian refugees to come over to America. To encourage Hungarian immigration to the United States, an American Society was founded in London. However the plan did not appeal to Kossuth. Nevertheless, a Hungarian settlement was founded some 110 miles from the Missouri in Iowa. Ujhazy himself bought twelve sections of the land, and a small Hungarian colony of five families started there in 1850. They called their new home New Buda, in remembrance of their old country. New Buda carried on fifty years. But a great statesman or strong general was not necessarily a good frontiersman, and "New Hungary" failed.⁽¹³⁾

By the time of the Civil War there were approximately four thousand Americans of Hungarian descent in the United States. Their number was not large, but the ratio of those who volunteered

for war service was considerable. Eight hundred Hungarians served in Lincoln's army and about a hundred of them were officers. Such a high ratio of soldiers to the total number was not reached by any other nationality in the United States.

Two of the Hungarians became major generals and five reached the rank of brigadier general. The Hungarian-born immigrants furnished the Union armies with fifteen colonels, two lieutenant colonels, fourteen majors, fifteen captains, and a number of sub altern officers and several surgeons. ⁽¹⁴⁾

The Hungarian-born soldiers played an important part in the Western Department, comprising Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and Kentucky, under the command of General John C. Fremont. His chief-of-staff was a Hungarian, Brigadier General Alexander Asboth. Three of his aides were also Hungarians: the commander of Fremont's Body Guard, Major Charles Zagonyi, his chief topographical engineer and his chief of ordinance. ⁽¹⁵⁾

The high tide of the Hungarian migration to America started with the "new immigration" at the turn of the century. The United States immigration statistics began with three lone Hungarian immigrants in 1871. Three years later the figure rose to 1,347. In 1880, with 4,363 immigrants, the rush began. In 1884, 14,797 emigrants left Hungary for the United States. From this time on, the number was between 10,000 and 37,000 a year until the last year of the nineteenth century. Then the figures began rising. In 1900, there was a migration of 54,767 people from Hungary to the United States. The peak was reached in 1907 with 193.460, about 1 percent of the total population of Hungary. The yearly number rose from 76,928 to 122,944 between 1908 and 1912. In 1913, just before World War I, 117,580 immigrants left Hungary. About 1,700,000 immigrants came to the United States from pre-war

Hungary, including not only the Magyars but the national minorities. ⁽¹⁶⁾

A comparison of immigration from Hungary with immigration from other countries is instructive. During the fifteen-year period beginning in 1895 the ratio of Hungarian immigration to the total increased from 5 to 16 percent. Another interesting figure is that 87 percent of the Hungarian immigrants were between fourteen and forty-four years of age.

The occupational statistics of the Hungarian immigrants, in the period preceding World War I, show that 67 percent of the total were farmers, 12.5 percent were unskilled workers of all kinds, 12.4 percent were miners and factory workers, 5.5 percent domestic servants, and the remainder belonged to "miscellaneous occupations". The size of the professional group was microscopic. It increased very slowly. amounting to one-half of 1 percent just before World War I. In spite of the fact, there are some remarkable names among them.

The name of Janos Xantus was becoming known in scientific circles just before the Civil War. He collected many specimens of California's fauna and flora and wrote a book on his explorations titled Journey in the Southern Parts of California.

Tivadar Puskas became one of the original collaborators of Edison, who praised him highly. Eventually, he became director of the Edison World Exhibition and general manager for Edison's business interests aboard.

Another Hungarian, Joseph Pulitzer, the newspaperman, is well known to every student of American history. In 1903 Pulitzer founded the School of Journalism at Columbia University, one of the most famous institutions of its kind, established the Pulitzer Prizes which are among the most coveted distinctions of writers nd artists all over the United States.

Two further facts characterized the Hungarian immigration. First, it was largely a male immigration. In the years around the turn of the century more than 73 percent of all Hungarian immigrants were male. Secondly, once the Hungarian immigrant left home he underwent a remarkable change. At home he had been a peasant, but when he reached America he never thought of going to work on the farm. He turned his back on the soil and turned toward the mine and factory. He did this possibly because he considered himself a transient. He hoped to make money quickly in the mine and in the factory and to return home and buy a piece of land. The best proof of this is the size of the remittances to the Old Country. At the height of the immigration the immigrants sent home sometimes as much as one hundred to two hundred million crowns a year. The highest annual remittance was a quarter of a billion crowns - the equivalent of $50,000,000. An investigation in County Torontal, South Hungary, showed that until 1907 the immigrants had sent home eight and a half million crowns to this county alone. The proposed disposition of this sum was: two million to buy land, an equal amount for savings and kin, and the rest to pay off mortgages. All of this indicates that many of the immigrants planned to return to Hungary. ⁽¹⁷⁾

In fact many of them did return. The figures show that one fourth of the immigrants returned to Hungary in the fifteen years up to 1914. Most of these ex-Americans were racial Hungarians and not members of the minorities. Between 1908 and 1924 the number of Hungarian reemigrants from the United States to Hungary ranged between ten thousand and thirty tousand annually. The total of all returning Hungarians between 1908 and 1924 amounted to 149,906. ⁽¹⁸⁾

Others never returned to their homeland. They settled in the neighborhood of mines and steel furnaces. Physically, they were

in the United States but spiritually they were not. They were living in the Hungarian colony, in the ghetto. Here they understood each other's language and felt somewhat more secure.

The main cause of the Hungarian emigration was neither political persecution nor religious discrimination. These were unknown in pre-war Hungary. Most of the emigrants were Catholics, the dominant religion in Hungary. Others were Protestants; but Protestantism enjoyed perfect freedom in Hungary. Many great leaders of the nation belonged to that faith. Others were Jews. But neither were Jews persecuted in Hungary at that time; pre-war Hungary was considered by many as a paradise for the Jews in that part of the world. Pre-war Hungarian governments saw in the Jews useful allies for the future, both economically, and owing to the Jews' willingness to assimilate linguistically, in the national struggle. To these considerations of expediency were added entirely sincere ones of principle, for the Hungarian Liberals (not only the political party which bore the name but the whole generation) were convinced that it was morally wrong to draw a distinction between man and man on grounds of religion or etnic origin. All the Hungarian governments of that era were therefore at pains to admit the Jews to full civic and political equality and to give them their share of social reward.

The arrival of the Jews in Hungary, as in the United States, had been mainly a nineteenth-century phenomenon. In 1785, when they were first counted, they had numbered only 75,000. Immigration, chiefly from Galacia, had raised their figures to almost 1,000,000 before World War I. It would have been in the interest of the nation that this influx be stopped. Hungary was, however, altogether too liberal in this matter; the eastern gates of the country were left wide open and Hungary's economic prosperity attracted new masses of orthodox Jewry from its primitive surroundings beyond the Carpathians. Their first generation settled in the northeastern counties of Hungary; the second and third moved to the cities; the fourth generation in many cases migrated further west to other countries or overseas. About

110,000 Jews left Hungary between 1870 and 1890. ⁽¹⁹⁾ In this procedure, Hungary mostly lost the assimilated European-type educated Jewish element and received instead ever new waves from the east, raw and unassimilated as they were. This resulted around 1880 in a short-lived movement of anti-Semitism. The government, however, turned its batteries on the movement, and it soon disintegrated. Mention must be also made of those who belonged to the ethnic minorities and left Hungary for America. They were numerous, but not one of them left Hungary because of political persecution or religious discrimination. Generally, pre-war Hungary is presented to the English reader as a feudal land dominated by rich and powerful Magyar landlords who oppressed both the peasants and the ethnic minorities. Many historians, English and French among them, have condemned pre-war Hungarian policies, accusing the Magyars of being "born oppressors", "the Prussians of the Danube", while the different nationalities of Hungary were innocent, gentle, and defenseless people. ⁽²⁰⁾ In spite of this accusation (although some bombastic journalists and politi-

cians who were for "magyarization" provided excellent material for anti-Magyar historians to denounce), the Hungarian generation of that age attempted to arrive at a settlement with the national minorities. This was the motive of Francis Deak and Joseph Eotvos, the two great Hungarian statesmen of the era, in creating the Bill of Nationalities of 1868. In this they attempted, in a true Liberal spirit, to balance the security of the state with the principle of free development for the nationalities. ⁽²¹⁾

The Nationality Bill of 1868 stated that "all citizens of Hungary compose one nation, politically speaking an indivisible unified Hungarian nation, in which every one, no matter to what nationality he or she should belong, enjoys equal rights before the law".⁽²²⁾ Accordingly, the idea of the "political nation" did not recognize any difference or privileges based on the racial background of its citizens. The official legislative and parliamentary language was Magyar, yet in dealing with the lower spheres and offices of administration every one could use his mother tongue. The bill was explicit in stating that its aim was to serve every one's freedom and cultural advancement.

The social conditions of pre-war Hungary also were characterized by Conservative Liberalism, professing the principle that no development was to be interfered with beyond the granting of equality before the law. It refused to interfere even when this would have meant positive assistance and protection for the lower classes. It allowed free passage for the sudden growth of Capi-

talism, but for a long time it left agricultural and industrial laborers to their fate. About one-third of all arable land in 1890 was in the hands of owners holding above 1,000 yokes (1,422 acres). A few reform-spirited landowners made a study of the homestead system in America, launching a movement to prevent further disintegration of small farms, but the expropriation of landed properties was not suggested at that time, because the public was made to believe that all official intervention would be injurious. ⁽²³⁾ The poorer section of the peasantry, with little or no arable land, found employment until the end of the century in large scale government works projects, such as building railroads and canals. When, at the end of the century, these large public works were completed, marginal agricultural labor lost its outstanding source of income. Before World War I, Hungary was not a country of large industries, with the exception of some large flour mills and sugar factories (Budapest was the largest flour milling center in Europe and the second largest in the world next to Minneapolis). But the country was rich in agrarian resources. It produced wheat of good quality. As to quantity, it closely followed the crops of the United States and Russia, with a yearly production average of nearly 200 million bushels. As long as world price of wheat was sufficiently high and American competition did not assume prohibitive proportions Hungarian grain growers throve on this export. But when, around 1890, wheat producing areas overseas grew enormously, and, besides the United States, Canada and Argentina entered world competition, a substantial slump of price resulted, seriously hampering Hungarian farming. Since more than half of Hungary's population earned its living by agriculture, the drop in the price of wheat in world markets was a serious blow to Hungary as a whole. Meanwhile the phenomenal growth of the American economy and the

ascending prosperity of the United States prompted a flow of emigration from the eastern and southeastern parts of Europe to the New World. The Hungarian emigrant, being Magyar or belonging to the ethnic groups, left Hungary for no other reason than to acquire capital with which to purchase sufficient land to maintain a livelihood in the country of his origin. Migration was considered by many Hungarians as a temporary, money-making tour. A part of them, as was mentioned above, achieved this aim and returned.⁽²⁴⁾

Hungarian authorities looked upon the emigration as a national sickness. In 1904, the Hungarian government signed an agreement with the Cunard Line to avoid illegal emigration. Indeed, anyone could leave the country, unless they were of military age (in which case they had to deposit a bond they forfeited if they failed to return home to perform their military service) or were subject to jail or fine. For the authorities. it was hard to understand why workers left the country in such great numbers, since living conditions seemed to be good. They stated perhaps the main cause of the emigration when they observed that "the measure of emigration does not depend on us, but on the power of attraction of American industry".⁽²⁵⁾

Social and Cultural Structure of the Hungarian Immigrants

In the United States, the immigrants found themselves in a land where newspaper reading was a habit. It was natural that a Hungarian press was started in America. The immigrant, as was mentioned above, felt his home ties very strongly. National societies, the church, and the mother-tongue press kept him in touch with the political struggle at home and even gave him opportunities to take part in it. This applied also to the Hungarian

language newspapers published in tne United States; except for a small minority. they identified themselves with the home land. representing it as the beloved fatherland.

As in so many other things, the name of Lajos Kossuth is associated with the beginnings of the Hungarian-language press in the United States. The Hungarian Exiles' Journal of the 1850's is the first Hungarian-language newspaper on record. It attempted to be the spokesman of Kossuth's followers but there were never manv of them. and this paper never had more than l18 subscribers

The second Hungarian language newspaper was established in 1879 Its title was Magyar Amerika (Hungarian America) and the paper devoted itself to the cultural interests of Hungary and America Its program reveals the contemporary mentality: Magyar Amerika wants a mighty thriving, happy Hungary. It wants universal well-being for all Hungarians wherever they may dwell. It wants to help raise Hungary s beautiful literature to the high place it deserves, wants to acquaint broad segments of American life with our fatherland. our national hahits of thought. culture, spiritual and material resources. thus counter-acting the nefarious work of our malicious neighbors. We also want to depict our new country to our readers. providing them with a truthful picture.⁽²⁶⁾

The paper went out of existence after a short period.

The first Hungarian-language newspaper with greater staying power was Amerika Nemzetor ( American National Guard) first published on February 1. 1884. It described itself as a "journal devoted to the cultural interests of Hungary and America" The following reasons were given by the editors for the existence of the paper.

1 For full details of Slav propaganda In the United States during World War I, see Victor S. Mamatey, The United States and East Central Europe 1914 - 1918 (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1957).

2 Dezso Halacsi, A Vilag Magyarsagaert (Budapest: Pub. by the author, 1944), p. 116.

3 For details on Hungarian emigration, see Emil Lengyel, Americans from Hungary (Philadelphia J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1948); Geza Kende, Magyarok Amerikaban; Az Amerikai Magyarsag Tortenete ( Hungarians in America; a History of the American Hungarians) (Cleveland: Szabadsag Pub., 1927); and Eugene Pivany, Hungarian-American Historical Connections, "A treatise read on the occasion of assuming his seat as a foreign member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences by Eugene Pivany, Budapest, October 4, 1926" (Budapest: Published by the Hungarian Academy of Science, 1927).

4 Aladar Poka-Pivny, "A Hungarian under Washington," The Hungarian Quarterly (Budapest), No. 10 (March, 1939), pp. ~105.

5 Lengyel, Americans from Hungary, p. 30.

6 Ibid., p 33

7 Ibid., p. 34.

8 "From Many Lands," The Milwaukee Journal (Da~ly), January 25, 1967,

9 Ibid

10 California: A Guide to the Golden State, American Guide Series, Sponsored by Mabel R. Gillis, California State Librarian (New York: Hastings House, Inc., n. d.).

11 Alexander De Conde, A History of American Foreign Policy (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1963), p. 218.

12 There is a consaderable literature devoted to Kossuth's stay and activities in the United States. For example, Report of the Special Commitee of the City of New York for the Reception of Governor Louis Kossuth (New York, 1852); Ph. Skinner, The Welcome of Kossuth (Philadelphia, 1852); Kossuth in New England (Boston, 1352); F. M. Newman, Selected Speeches of Kossuth (New York, 1854); Denis Janossy, "Kossuth and the Presidential Election, 1852," Hungarian Quarterly, VII (1941), 105-11; and Stephen Gal, "Kossuth, America and the Danubian Confederation," Hungarian Quarterly, VI (1940), 417 - 33.

13 Lengyel, Americans from Hungary, pp. 50 51.

14 Edmund Vasvary, Lincoln's Hungarian Heroes (Washington, D. C.: Published by the Hungarian Reformed Federation of America, (1939), p. 290.

15 Ibid.

16 These statistics and those following are based on Lengyel, Americans from Hungary, pp. 123ff.

17 For full detalls, see Pal Farkas, Az Amerikai Kivandorlas (Budapest Singer & Wolfner, 1907).

18 Lengyel, Americans from Hungary p. 128.

19 For full details see Aloys Kovacs, A zsidosag tertofoglalasa Magyarorszagon (Expansion of the Jews in Hungary) (Budapest: no publlsher, 1922).

20 For full details on this subject from a Hungarian point of view, see Dominic G. Kosary, - History of Hungary (Cleveland - New York: Benjamin Franklin Bibliophile Society, 1941). Professor C. A. Macartney of Oxford is considered to be fundamental on this topic in English. Professor Macartney is one of the few who has made on-the-spot a thorough study of conditions among nalionalities in Eastern Europe. See The Habsburg Empire 1790-1918 (New York: Macmillan Company, 1969), pp. 687-740. Also see Professor Macartney's other works: Hungary and Her Successors (Oxford, 1937); Problems of the Danube Basin (Cambridge, 1942); National State and National Minorities (London, 1934), Professor Macartney does not shut his eyes to the faults of either party. On the other hand, Professor R. W. Seton-Watson's works are admirably written from the anti-Magyar angle. See Racial Problems in Hungary (London, 1908); The Southern Slav Question in the Habsburg Monarchy (London, 1911); A History or Czechs and Slovaks (Hamden, Conn., 1943); A Hislory of the Rumanians (London, 1934 ) .

21 The name of Francis Deak is well known to Eastern-European historians. Joseph Eotvos was one of the outstanding contemporary writers of political philosophy, having devoted several of his books to the question of the equal rights of nationalities In his voluminous work, The Reigning Ideas of the Nineteenth century and their Influence on the State, he revealed with shocking clarity where European developments would lead. He pointed out that the three leading ideas of the day, Liberty, Equality, and Nationalism, clashed with each other in the long run, and that without sufficient balance this would lead to disturbances, social revolutions, and war.

22 Kosary, Hungary, p. 330.

23 For details see Michael Kerek, A Magyar Foldkerdes (The Hungarian Land Problem) (Budapest, no publisher, 1939), pp. 64-65.

24 This fact also proves that social conditions were not as bad, as some historians have described them. Had the social conditions been hopeless, emigrants would not have returned to that Hungary at all.

25 Lengyel, Americans from Hungary, p. 125.

26 lbid., p. 196 NB. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, a large anti-Hungarian propaganda campaign was carried on by Austria in order to counterbalance Kossuth's activities. The paper was probably referring to this in its mention of the "nefarious work of our malicious neigbors."

Mark Imre Major : American Hungarian Relations 1918-1944