Imre Nagy, "November 4, 1956 Broadcast Message"
In 1956, pro-American nationalists behind the Iron Curtain in Hungary attempted to separate from the Soviet bloc. Despite attention from the global press, the uprising did not end well. The Soviet Union's brutal suppression the uprising shocked the world. The following statement from independence leader Imre Nagy broadcast on November 4, 1956, to no avail for his fellow Hungarians. He was tried and put to death for treason in 1958.
Questions to Consider:
1. How important was it for Nagy that his story and the story of the Hungarian uprising be told?
2. Why didn't the United States and its allies help?
3. Speculate: what would you do if you were President Eisenhower? What were the risks? How would doing so challenge the Cold War order?
This fight is the fight for freedom by the Hungarian people against the Russian intervention, and it is possible that I shall only be able to stay at my post for one or two hours. The whole world will see how the Russian armed forces, contrary to all treaties and conventions, are crushing the resistance of the Hungarian people. They will also see how they are kidnapping the Prime Minister of a country which is a Member of the United Nations, taking him from the capitaI, and therefore it cannot be doubted at all that this is the most brutal form of intervention. I should like in these last moments to ask the leaders of the revolution, if they can, to leave the country. I ask that all that I have said in my broadcast, and what we have agreed on with the revolutionary leaders during meetings in Parliament, should be put in a memorandum, and the leaders should turn to all the peoples of the world for help and explain that today it is Hungary and tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, it will be the tum of other countries because the imperialism of Moscow does not know borders, and is only trying to play for time.
Questions to Consider:
1. How important was it for Nagy that his story and the story of the Hungarian uprising be told?
2. Why didn't the United States and its allies help?
3. Speculate: what would you do if you were President Eisenhower? What were the risks? How would doing so challenge the Cold War order?
This fight is the fight for freedom by the Hungarian people against the Russian intervention, and it is possible that I shall only be able to stay at my post for one or two hours. The whole world will see how the Russian armed forces, contrary to all treaties and conventions, are crushing the resistance of the Hungarian people. They will also see how they are kidnapping the Prime Minister of a country which is a Member of the United Nations, taking him from the capitaI, and therefore it cannot be doubted at all that this is the most brutal form of intervention. I should like in these last moments to ask the leaders of the revolution, if they can, to leave the country. I ask that all that I have said in my broadcast, and what we have agreed on with the revolutionary leaders during meetings in Parliament, should be put in a memorandum, and the leaders should turn to all the peoples of the world for help and explain that today it is Hungary and tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, it will be the tum of other countries because the imperialism of Moscow does not know borders, and is only trying to play for time.