press releases 2009

Ambassador Ashe Extends Congratulations to Prime Minister Tusk and the People of Poland For the 20th Anniversary of the Elections of June 4, 1989

3 June 2009

U.S. Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe sent an open letter to Prime Minister Donald Tusk and all the people of Poland on June 3, offering congratulations on behalf of the United States of America on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the elections of June 4, 1989.  Ambassador Ashe saluted the Polish people for making a decisive break from Communist rule on that date. The letter acknowledges the pioneering role that the Polish people and Solidarity played in this historic act, which set the stage for the sweeping changes that came over the rest of East-Central Europe during the fall of 1989. The Ambassador wrote, “Twenty years ago today, Poland shocked the world with the first step towards free elections in the Warsaw Pact. Solidarity’s decisive electoral victory launched a chain of events that returned democracy not only to Poland, but also to almost all of the former Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe.” The U.S. Embassy and the American people salute the Polish people and the blow they struck for freedom and democracy twenty years ago.