Hungary–United States relations

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Hungary – United States relations
Map indicating locations of Hungary and USA

Hungary
United States
Diplomatic mission
Hungarian Embassy, Washington, D.C.United States Embassy, Budapest
Envoy
Ambassador László SzabóVacant

Hungary – United States relations are bilateral relations between Hungary and the United States.

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.[1]. According to a 2018 poll, 68% of Hungarians view the United States favorably.[2]

Country comparison[edit]

Name Hungary United States
Official name Hungary (Magyarország) United States of America
Coat of Arms Coat of arms of Hungary.svg Great Seal of the United States (obverse).svg
Flag Hungary United States
Population 9,830,485 324,720,797
Area 93,028 km2 (35,919 sq mi) 9,525,067 km2 (3,677,649 sq mi)
Population Density 105.9/km2 (274.3/sq mi) 35/km2 (90.6/sq mi)
Government Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic Federal presidential constitutional republic
Capital  Budapest – 1,759,407 (2,524,697 Metro)  Washington, D.C.
Largest City  New York City – 8,550,405 (20,182,305 Metro)
Official language Hungarian (de facto and de jure) None (English de facto)
First leader Grand Prince Árpád (traditional first leader of tribal principality, 895–907)
King St. Stephen (of Christian kingdom, 997–1038) 		President George Washington (1789–1797)
Current Head of State President János Áder (Fidesz; 2012–present) President Donald Trump (Republican; 2017–present)
Current Head of Government Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (Fidesz; 1998–2002, 2010–present)
Main religions 38.9% Catholicism (Roman, Greek), 13.8% Protestantism (Reformed, Evangelical), 0.2% Orthodox, 0.1% Jewish, 1.7% other, 16.7% Non-religious, 1.5% Atheism, 27.2% undeclared 70.6% Christian, 1.9% Jewish, 0.9% Islam, 0.7% Buddhist, 2.5% other faiths; 22.8% Irreligious
Ethnic groups 83.7% Hungarian, 3.1% Roma, 1.3% German; 14.7% not declared 72.4% White, 12.6% Black, 9.1% Multiracial/Other, 4.8% Asian, 0.9% Native, 0.2% Islanders
GDP (nominal) $132.683 billion, $13,487 per capita $18,558.000 billion, $57,220 per capita
External debt (nominal) $202.000 billion (2012 Q4) – 115 % of GDP $17,910.859 billion (2016 Q1) – 96 % of GDP
GDP (PPP) $265.037 billion, $26,941 per capita $18,558.000 billion, $57,220 per capita
Currency Hungarian forint (Ft) – HUF United States dollar ($) – USD
Human Development Index 0.828 (very high) 0.915 (very high)
Expatriate populations ? 1,563,081 persons of Hungarian ancestry lived in the USA

History[edit]

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets with Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó in Budapest in February 2019

Until 1867 the Kingdom of Hungary was a part of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 to 1918 of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. United States diplomatic relations with Hungary were conducted through the United States Ambassador to Austria in Vienna. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire following World War I, Hungary and the United States established bilateral relations through a legation in Budapest established in 1921; the first American ambassador to Hungary (Theodore Brentano) was appointed on February 10, 1922.

Diplomatic relations were interrupted at the outbreak of World War II. Hungary severed relations with the U.S. on December 11, 1941, when the United States declared war on Germany. Two days later, on December 13, Hungary declared war on the United States; the embassy was closed and diplomatic personnel returned to the U.S.

Normal bilateral relations between Hungary and the U.S. were resumed in December 1945 when a U.S. ambassador was appointed and the embassy was reopened.

Relations between the United States and Hungary following World War II were affected by the Soviet armed forces' occupation of Hungary. Full diplomatic relations were established at the legation level on October 12, 1945, before the signing of the Hungarian peace treaty on February 10, 1947. After the communist takeover in 1947-48, relations with the People's Republic of Hungary became increasingly strained by the nationalization of U.S.-owned property and what the United States considered unacceptable treatment of U.S. citizens and personnel, as well as restrictions on the operations of the American legation. Though relations deteriorated further after the suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, an exchange of ambassadors in 1966 inaugurated an era of improving relations. In 1972, a consular convention was concluded to provide consular protection to U.S. citizens in Hungary.

In 1973, a bilateral agreement was reached under which Hungary settled the nationalization claims of American citizens. On 6 January 1978, the United States returned the Holy Crown of Hungary, which had been safeguarded by the United States since the end of World War II. Symbolically and actually, this event marked the beginning of excellent relations between the two countries. A 1978 bilateral trade agreement included extension of most-favored-nation status to Hungary. Cultural and scientific exchanges were expanded; as Hungary began to pull away from the Soviet orbit, the United States offered assistance and expertise to help establish a constitution, a democratic political system, and a plan for a free market economy.

Between 1989 and 1993, the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act provided more than $136 million for economic restructuring and private-sector development; the Hungarian-American Enterprise Fund has offered loans, equity capital, and technical assistance to promote private-sector development. The U.S. Government has provided expert and financial assistance for the development of modern and Western institutions in many policy areas, including national security, law enforcement, free media, environmental regulations, education, and health care. American direct investment has had a direct, positive impact on the Hungarian economy and on continued good bilateral relations; when Hungary acceded to NATO in April 1999, it became a formal ally of the United States. This move has been consistently supported by the 1.5 million-strong Hungarian-American community. The U.S. government supported Hungarian accession to the European Union in 2004, and continues to work with Hungary as a valued partner in the Transatlantic relationship. Hungary joined the Visa Waiver Program in 2008.

High-level mutual visits[edit]

Visits from Hungary to the United States

Visits from the United States to Hungary

Resident diplomatic missions[edit]

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

Sister-Twinning cities[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ U.S. Global Leadership Project Report - 2012 Gallup
  2. ^ "Special Eurobarometer 479: Future of Europe". 10 December 2018. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  3. ^ Embassy of Hungary in Washington, D.C.
  4. ^ Embassy of United States in Budapest

Further reading[edit]

  • Bártfai, Imre, "Hungary & the U.S.: Will there be a New Direction for American Diplomacy?", IndraStra Global (2017) 3, ISSN 2381-3652 online
  • Borhi, László, "In the Power Arena: U.S.-Hungarian Relations, 1942–1989," The Hungarian Quarterly (Budapest), 51 (Summer 2010), pp 67–81.
  • Borhi, László. Hungary in the Cold War, 1945-1956: Between the United States and the Soviet Union (2004) online
  • Frank, Tibor. Ethnicity, Propaganda, Myth-Making: Studies in Hungarian Connections to Britain and America, 1848–1945 (Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó, 1999).
  • Gati, Charles. Hungary and the Soviet Bloc (Duke University Press, 1986).
  • Glant, Tibor, "Ninety Years of United States-Hungarian Relations," Eger Journal of American Studies, 13 (2012), 163–83.
  • Glant, Tibor, "The Myth and History of Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points in Hungary," Eger Journal of American Studies (Eger), 12 (2010), 301–22.
  • Horcicka, Václav, "Austria-Hungary, Unrestricted Submarine Warfare, and the United States' Entrance into the First World War," International History Review (Burnaby), 34 (June 2012), 245–69.
  • Lévai, Csaba, "Henry Clay and Lajos Kossuth's Visit in the United States, 1851–1852," Eger Journal of American Studies (Eger), 13 (2012), pp 219–41.
  • Max, Stanley. The Anglo-American Response to the Sovietization of Hungary, 1945– 1948 (Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1990).
  • Peterecz, Zoltán, "'A Certain Amount of Tactful Undermining': Herbert C. Pell and Hungary in 1941," The Hungarian Quarterly (Budapest), 52 (Spring–Summer 2011), pp 124–37.
  • Peterecz, Zoltán, "American Foreign Policy and American Financial Controllers in Europe in the 1920s," Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies (Debrecen), 18 (2012), pp 457–85.
  • Peterecz, Zoltán, "Money Has No Smell: Anti-Semitism in Hungary and the Anglo-Saxon World, and the Launching of the International Reconstruction Loan for Hungary in 1924," Eger Journal of American Studies (Eger), 13 (2012), pp 273–90.
  • Peterecz, Zoltán, "The Fight for a Yankee over Here: Attempts to Secure an American for an Official League of Nations Post in the Postwar Central European Financial Reconstruction Era of the 1920s," Eger Journal of American Studies (Eger), 12 (2010), pp 465–88.
  • Radvanyi, Janos. Hungary and the Superpowers, The 1956 Revolution and Realpolitik (Stanford University Press, 1972).
  • Romsics, Ignác, ed. Twentieth Century Hungary and the Great Powers (Boulder: East European Monographs, 1996).
  • Sakmyster, Thomas L. (1994). Hungary's Admiral on Horseback: Miklós Horthy, 1918–1944. Boulder: East European Monographs.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Department of State website https://www.state.gov/countries-areas/ (U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets).

External links[edit]

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