Secretary's Speech

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez Remarks at Opening of Photo Exhibit Commemorating 50th Anniversary of Hungarian Revolution
Washington, D.C.

Thank you for that kind introduction.

Mr. Ambassador, Mrs. Simonyi, Dr. Katzen, honored guests…

I’m honored to join all of you in this celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, and to have the opportunity see these truly remarkable photographs.

They capture more eloquently than words can, the spirit of the moment, and the courage and valor of the freedom fighters.

My congratulations to the Association of Hungarian Photographers on creating such a memorable exhibition.

These photographs tell the story of a people who had suffered too long under the yoke of a communist dictatorship. With great honor and sacrifice, they stood up for their freedom.

During the weeks from October 23 through December 4, men, women, boys and girls were determined to resist tyranny to the death.

The whole world marveled at the will and the courage of the Hungarian people.

Stories as heroic as anything history has ever witnessed are behind those photographs.

Young student freedom fighters and workers used old rifles, home-made gasoline bombs, and even their bare hands against large and powerful tanks and weapons.

Young girls were said to have hidden in doorways with home-made bombs. They would spread soap on the street. When the tank slipped, the young girls would run out of the doorway and blow it up with their bombs.

Some of these girls were killed when tanks shot their machine guns into the doorways.

Finally, as the city was silenced on December 4, women of Budapest, dressed in black, marched to the Tomb of the Unknown Hungarian Soldier to place flowers on the grave.

They stood straight, proud in firm defiance of the machine guns that were pointed at them.

The uprising was crushed, but the long path to liberty and democracy had been set. And, though it took decades, a new generation carried the banner forward.

As President Bush said when he was in Budapest in June: “Liberty can be delayed, but it cannot be denied.”

Hungary’s battle for freedom, and successful transition to democracy and a free market economy, can be an inspiring example to others, who still suffer the deprivations of a life under a dictatorship.

In Cuba, the land of my birth, people live in oppression and fear. They have lived that way for 47 years. I pray that they too will soon embrace the freedom and dignity that a cruel dictatorship has denied them.

In a message that still reverberates with oppressed people everywhere, the Hungarian poet Sandor Petofi wrote:

“Here is the time, now or never!
Shall we be slaves or free?
This is the question, answer!
By the God of the Hungarians we swear,
We swear to be slaves no more!”

The people of Cuba will one day cry out in the words of Petofi.

The Hungarian people stood up to communist oppression. They paid a great price. But their fight for freedom could not be stopped. It could only be delayed.
In 1989, the victory was realized. And, once again, Hungarians showed the world the power of the love of freedom.

America is proud to call Hungary a friend and ally.

As we view these important photographs tonight, let us remember and pay tribute to the memory of those courageous Hungarians who fought, and gave their life, for freedom.

Thank you, and God bless you.