Hungary–United States relations


Diplomatic relations between Hungary and the United States of America have existed with interruptions since 1848.

History

Pre-independence

The Hungarian State produced by the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was recognised by the United States. Hungarian revolutionary Lajos Kossuth was brought to the United States by an American warship in 1851. An American diplomatic post to the Kingdom of Hungary was established in 1869, and upgraded to a consulate in 1904.

Interwar

President Warren G. Harding called for the United States Congress to create a peace treaty between the United States and Hungary on 2 July 1921. Negotiations started in Budapest on 9 July 1921, and there were no difficulties as there was no significant conflict between the two sides during the war nor were any Americans held as prisoners of war. The U.S.–Hungarian Peace Treaty was signed on 29 August.
The United States' legation was established in Budapest on 26 December 1921. Hungary opened its first consulates in New York City, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Clveland in 1922. László Széchenyi, the first Hungarian minister to the United States, presented his credentials on 11 January 1922, and served until 31 March 1933.
In the 1930s Standard Oil of New Jersey started exploring for oil in Hungary. The Hungarian-American Oil Corporation started oil production in 1937. This rose from 1.3 million tons of oil in 1937, to 37.3 million tons in 1938, and 141.8 million tons in 1939.

World War II

The United States represented the British after the United Kingdom and Hungary ended diplomatic relations on 7 April 1941. The British ultimatum to Hungary requesting that it end its participation in the war against the Soviet Union was delivered by Americans on 29 November. The United States was opposed to the United Kingdom declaring war on Hungary as it was believed that it would strengthen the pro-war faction in Hungary. The ultimatum expired and the British declared war on 7 December.
Germany's declaration of war against the United States resulted in László Bárdossy ending diplomatic relations with the United States on 11 December. Bárdossy was opposed to war with the United States as he felt it would be similar to Panama and Costa Rica declarations of war against Japan, as neither side would be greatly involved in the conflict against the subject of the declaration. However, Bárdossy informed Herbert Pell on 13 December that a state of war existed between the United States and Hungary.
U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull opposed declaring war on Hungary as he viewed it as a puppet state of Germany. On 2 June 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested the United States Congress to declare war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.
Tibor Eckhardt left Hungary on 7 March 1941, and travelled to the United States. Germany's Federal Foreign Office was suspicious of Eckhardt, but Horthy denied sending him on a mission. Eckhardt made contact with the United States Department of State as the leader of an independent Hungary movement. Eckhardt was stripped of his Hungarian citizenship in October. His independent Hungary movement disbanded in July 1942.

Polling

According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 38% of Hungarians approve of U.S. leadership, with 20% disapproving and 42% uncertain, a decrease from 53% approval in 2011. According to a 2018 poll, 68% of Hungarians viewed the United States favorably.

High-level mutual visits

GuestHostPlace of visitDate of visit

Resident diplomatic missions

;of Hungary in the United States
;of the United States in Hungary

Works cited

Books

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Web

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Cold War 1945-1989

  • Bischof, Günter. "United States Responses to the Soviet Suppression of Rebellions in the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia." Diplomacy & Statecraft 22.1 : 61-80.
  • Borhi, László. "Rollback, Liberation, Containment, or Inaction? U.S. Policy and Eastern Europe in the 1950s." Journal of Cold War Studies 1.3 : 67-110.
  • Borhi, László. "From the Prehistory of the Cold War." Acta Historica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 35.1/4 : 217-249.
  • Borhi, László. "‘We Hungarian communists are realists’: János Kádár's foreign policy in the light of Hungarian–US relations, 1957–67." Cold War History 4.2 : 1-32.
  • Borhi, László. "In the Power Arena: U.S.-Hungarian Relations, 1942–1989," The Hungarian Quarterly, 51, pp 67–81.
  • Borhi, László. "Dealing with dictatorship: The US and Hungary during the early kádár years." Hungarian Studies 27.1 : 15-66.
  • Borhi, László. Hungary in the Cold War, 1945-1956: Between the United States and the Soviet Union
  • Gati, Charles. Hungary and the Soviet Bloc.
  • Glant, Tibor. Remember Hungary 1956: Essays on the Hungarian Revolution and Wars of Independence in American Memory
  • Granville, Johanna. "Radio Free Europe’s Impact on the Kremlin in the Hungarian Crisis of 1956: Three Hypotheses." Canadian Journal of History 39.3 : 515-546.
  • Holloway, David, and Victor McFarland. "The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 in the Context of the Cold War Military Confrontation." Hungarian Studies 20.1 : 31-49.
  • Jarvis, Eric. "The Creation of a Controversial Anti‐Communist Martyr in Early Cold War America: Reactions to the Arrest and Show Trial of Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty of Hungary, 1948–1949." Historian 78.2 : 277-308.
  • Max, Stanley. The Anglo-American Response to the Sovietization of Hungary, 1945– 1948.
  • Radvanyi, Janos. Hungary and the Superpowers, The 1956 Revolution and Realpolitik.
  • Webb, Alban. "Cold War Radio and the Hungarian Uprising, 1956." Cold War History 13.2 : 221-238.