“President Kwaśniewski, President Wałęsa, Honored guests...We gather to honor the heroes of 1980, shipyard workers, their supporters throughout Poland, and a then-unemployed electrician, who joined together to demand justice, freedom and democracy for their country. Their efforts helped free their nation and end the Cold War. Their courage and strength inspired other fighters for freedom at first throughout Europe, and today throughout the world.”
“President Jimmy Carter and, then, Presidents Reagan and George Bush, whom I had the honor to serve, supported the people of Poland in their inalienable demands for freedom, dignity, and justice. Before their victory was won, they had to endure martial law, prison, and, in some cases, years of persecution in hiding. Yet Solidarity never wavered from either its determination or its democratic principles. And Solidarity’s leader, Lech Wałęsa, never wavered from his confidence in the victory of the movement he led and the cause he championed.”
“The United States is proud of the consistent support it provided to Solidarity and the Polish people. Lane Kirkland, whose widow accompanies me today as part of our delegation, rallied the US labor movement behind Solidarity, the one truly free and representative labor movement in the former Soviet Bloc. During those dark years of Martial Law, President Reagan put the strength of the United States at the service of freedom. The first President Bush stood with Poland in 1989, coming to this city, as the Roundtable talks broke the lock of communist power, opened the doors to elections, and then a free Poland, which has now reclaimed its place in a Europe whole, free, and at peace. As Secretary of State in the first months and years of Poland’s regained freedom, I had the great pleasure of helping lay the cornerstone of the reestablished Polish-American alliance. Today, Poland and America stand together in support of freedom for others in the world, just as America stood with Poland in the years of its struggle.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is a profound honor to be here with you today, in this place and a privilege to read the greetings of our current President Bush to the freedom fighters and Polish patriots who began that successful struggle for freedom twenty-five years ago.”
President Bush’s Greetings to Solidarity
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