The Paris Peace Conference of 1919: the Us and Hungary

Paris Peace Conference, 1919: The US and Hungary

PPC

·  why unique; role of US and Hungary

·  January 12/18 to early January 1920

·  Treaties: Versailles (GER), Saint-Germain (AUS); Neuilly (BUL); Trianon (HU); Sevres (TR): revised as Lausanne (1923)

·  Organization: plenary session -> Council of 5 -> Concil of 4 (the Big Four) -> territorial, business, labor and other commissions (over 100 committees)

·  League of Nations Covenant (“constitution”): TWW compromise: Article 1 of each treaty

The US at the PPC

·  ACNP over 1,300 members, five commissioners plenipotentiary (Wilson, House, Lansing, Bliss, and White); head: TWW

·  Aims: umbrella treaty, LofN

·  Problems: TWW’s control disintegrates over decision making process; break with House

·  Compromise: LofN in each treaty BUT territorial haggling

·  Pattern: other treaties modeled on the GER one

·  Break: TWW leaves Paris after GER treaty and leaves Frank L. Polk in charge: US gradually waning influence

·  Treaty Fight: TWW loses battle over GER treaty and LofN in Senate (1918 elections, bad decisions; the Irreconcilables)

HU and the US in 1918-1920

·  HU: revolutions: Károlyi, HSR, Counterrevolution + inability/unwillingness to defend Kingdom of Hungary (Károlyi vs. Kun)

·  Successor States: fait accompli: occupy territories and lay claim to them at the peace table

·  US: marginal interest BUT various missions in or around HU: Creel, Coolidge, ARA, SD (Halstead), etc., attitude: tired of it, want to go home (Davis)

·  US influencing region: ARA and railroad control: is it against HSR or not?

·  May 1919: invitation to HU: Fro prevents it: the Q: did we lose territories because of the HSR?

·  July/Aug 1919: Rumanian invasion, fall of HSR + TWW leaves (Polk comes in): a possible TuP

·  Inter-Allied Commission of four generals (US: Bandholtz) to supervise armistice

·  GB-FRO deal about the Middle East and ECE: Clark mission and the coalition govt.

·  1920: invitation to Paris: must sign; the Millerand letter: false hopes

·  June 4, 1920: Trianon

·  US and HU: diplomatic relations started by early 1920: US: business interests, condescension twd. HU (Grant-Smith, Nicholas Roosevelt)

·  August 29, 1921: separate US-HU peace after similar peace treaties w. GER and AUS

Revisionist Propaganda

Anti-Trianon propaganda

·  the myth of the 14 Points;

·  scapegoating;

·  unfounded expectations towards the US: uninterested party, must provide justice

·  how far can HU government go w/o isolating herself politcally

(1) publications

·  to present Hungary's case: quality press/periodicals for the outside world: The Hungarian Nation, The Hungarian Quarterly; Külföldi Magyarság

·  series of pamphlets in ENG, GER, and FR: Alajos Kovács, Count Paul Teleki, Jenő Cholnoky

(2) lecture tours

·  Teleki, 1921: The Evolution of Hungary and Its Place in European History. (New York, 1923): pp. 141-142: political geography + anti-Semitism charges and excuses

·  Apponyi, 1923: The Memoirs of Count Apponyi. (New York, 1935): pp. 197-198; 199; 203-204. LofNs loan for HU but: Apponyi vs. Jászi: wants to use US money to get Habsburgs back => “red bolshevik2 vs. “white bolsehvik”

(3) Kossuth Pilgrimage

·  Géza D. Berkó (AMNSZ): becomes an all-HU project

·  March 15, 1928: unveiling on Riverside Drive (Columbia Campus)

·  Kossuth Pilgrimage: HU delegation (incl. White House reception)

(4) World Congresses of Hungarians

·  1929: Buffalo, NY: launched

·  1938: Budapest: St. Stephen memorial year => Hungarian World Federation est.

(5) Justice for Hungary: a slogan with three meanings: (a) an article, (b) a book, and (c) a transatlantic flight:

·  the article: The Daily Mail (GB), June 21, 1927: ”Hungary's Place in the Sun”: Lord Rothermere (Radomér apó) calls for revision of Trianon;

·  the book: Justice for Hungary. Review and Criticism of the Effect of the Treaty of Trianon. (London, 1928); also in Hungarian;

·  the flight: funding: Emil Szalay and Lord Rothermere; pilots: György Endresz and Sándor Magyar; the plane: Justice for Hungary; date: July 15-16, 1931; route: Grace Harbor, NY to Bicske, crash-landing; evaluation: propaganda w. mixed results.

Between the Wars: Diplomacy, Immigration, Life in America

Diplomacy

·  full, bilateral relations of the first time: Late 1919, officially exchange of Ministers, January 1922

·  3 dimensions: political, economic, and cultural

Political ties

·  separate U.S.-Hungarian peace treaty w/o Trianon borders => false expectations: the U.S. might help; lack of interest returns => disappointment;

·  new phase: full diplomatic relations established (Széchenyi, Pelényi; Grant-Smith, Brentano, Wright, Nicholas Roosevelt, Montgomery);

·  American acceptance of Horthy

·  some touchy political visits (Huszár, Teleki, Apponyi; MacArthur, CEIP delegation);

·  provides leeway for anti-Trianon propaganda and policy for Hungary in the U.S.

·  HU seeks US support until the rise of Hitler and German revisionism

Economic ties

·  League of Nations loan and Jeremiah Smith;

·  trade: 1925: MFN

Cultural ties

·  exchange programs btw. universities (Szeged, Pécs, Kosáry, Erzsébet Kol);

·  statues (Kossuth and Bandholtz);

·  Kossuth pilgrimage, 1928;

·  July 4th in Budapest;

·  debate over movie business;

·  Nyári Egyetem, Debrecen (1927 and on, 1st American: 1933).

Immigration

·  1924 Reed-Johnson Act: the national quota system introduced, 473 Hungarians/year; later 896/year

·  exceptions: religious and political refugees after WWI (Oszkár JÁSZI) and during the 1930s and 1940s (Béla BARTÓK, the nuclear scientists); family reunions approved

·  how to cheat guides in American-Hungarian calendars

·  new trend: artisans, people w. special skills, who wanted to live there: ready to Americanize => accepted by native-born Americans: win-win for majority society and HU communities

·  US gates closing: new targets: esp. Canada (1920s: cca. 30,000; cf. quota of 473/year), Latin-America (Albrecht action), Australia.

Life in the US

·  US: anti-immigrant sentiments and politics: Congressional investigations, Reed-Johnson Act, etc.

·  new realities: no way back home (Trianon) => must stay there => changes in attitudes:

·  Americanization accepted => a new trend of taking out U.S. citizenship;

·  the second generation learns English and goes to U.S. schools, loss of Hungarian national identity;

·  moving to the cities: Little Hungaries established (Buckeye Rd., Cleveland, Toronto);

·  new and better-paying professions;

·  anti-Trianon propaganda (cf. Birinyi Kossuth Lajos);

·  HU interest in he communities: religious survey missions, World Federation;

·  new trends in press, organizations, folklore, literature, etc.

Images of America in Hungary

·  info: travel writing (like Dualist period) + popular culture: film and pulp fiction (cf. Rejtő)

·  systematic, academic study begins: esp. American government and democracy

·  know-it-all attitude (Szabó quotes)

·  Left: special interest in the New Deal and FDR

·  proper geographical survey and descriptions (Cholnoky, since 1917)

Americans on Hungary

·  Harry Hill Bandholtz, An Undiplomatic Diary, by the American Member of the Inter-Allied Military Mission to Hungary, 1919-1920, Maj. Gen. Harry Hill Bandholtz, U. S. A. (New York: Columbia UP, 1933)

·  Nicholas Roosevelt, A Front Row Seat (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1953)

·  John Flournoy Montgomery, Hungary, the Unwilling Satellite (new York: Devin-Adair Co, 1947)

Evaluation and Outlook

·  the Hungarian-Americans become Americans

·  full official relations established btw. the two countries

·  propaganda and some sympathy for Hungary

·  late 1930s and early 1940s: new problems and World War II

WORLD WAR II

Before the War

·  new trends in Hungarian life in America: second generation assimilates;

·  political and religious refugees above the quota: Béla Bartók, and various scientists associated with the Manhattan Project;

·  the Vienna awards: Trianon revised w. German help (buying support);

·  John F. Montgomery (US minister to Hungary, 1933-41) and the "unwilling satellite" (Hungary, the Unwilling Satellite. New York, 1947, in Hungarian: 1993) + Horthy

The War

FDR's diplomacy

·  two policies side by side:

o  the four policemen and Soviet domination of Eastern Europe; and

o  Otto von Habsburg and the revitalization of Austria-Hungary.

·  decision: November 1944, Moscow: three parallel talks: Churchill and Stalin; Rákosi and Molotov; the Faragho mission (Horthy's attempt to exit);

·  sanctioned: Yalta, February 1945 (vs. ”The Declaration of Liberated Europe”).

Hungarian-Americans

·  fewer problems with loyalty than in WWI: assimilation, etc.

·  rejection of Hungarian government policies: G. Paloczy-Horvath, In Darkest Hungary. (London, 1944);

·  for a new and better Hungary: the ”free Hungary” movements: potential governments in exile and Montgomery picked up;

·  rivalries: lack of HU lobby AGAIN (like in WWI)

(1) right-wing, conservative: ”Movement for an Independent Hungary” (Tibor Eckhardt, János Pelényi);

(2) left-wing: ”American Federation of Democratic Hungarians” (Károlyi, Jászi, Rusztem Vámbéry); ”Hungarian-American Council for Democracy” (Béla Lugosi)

(3) monarchists: Otto von Habsburg;

·  problems: Czechs and Yugoslavs, GB and US decide by 1942: non-recognition;

·  Hungarians in the Manhattan Project: Teller, Wigner, Neumann, Szilárd

Hungary and the US

·  US and GB: seen as the alternative to Germany (cf. Kállay and “double dealing”);

·  the story of the declaration of war (Herbert Pell and Premier Bárdossy; Horthy);

·  Hungary informs Berlin that actual war with the US out of the question;

·  continue secret talks for a separate peace (esp. Turkey, e.g. Szent-Györgyi): armistice agreement ready by late 1943 => German occupation in March 1944

The US and Hungary

·  no hostility, seen as under German influence (Pell: ”I know that you are doing this under heavy pressure from Germany, and that the declaration reflects no hostility on the part of the Hungarian people towards the people of the United States.”);

·  part of a broader game: FDR in Cairo: the four policemen idea: spheres of influence: background for the ”percentage deal” in December 1944;

·  Truman's late bid to reverse this policy fails (focus on Poland - geography);

·  negative response: deportation of Hungarian Jews (FDR's proclamation).

AFTER THE WAR

·  spheres of influence agreements click in: Hungary in the Soviet Zone: takeover by 1947;

·  February 1947: 2nd Trianon Treaty

·  late 1947: SD recommends giving up on HU

·  Hungary: ”guilty nation”: justifies Soviet looting but Horthy excluded from Nürnberg Trials by Stalin (a puzzle to day);

·  three new waves of immigrants to the US (45ers, 47ers, 56ers);

·  enemies for the first time: esp. 1947-1969, then ”normalization”.

QUESTION: Which lessons of World War I were learned by both countries?