Clinton administration staffer shares impressions of state visit to Ukraine (04/14/96)

Clinton administration staffer shares impressions of state visit to Ukraine

by Roma Hadzewycz

NEWARK, N.J. - Melanne Verveer, the Ukrainian American deputy assistant to the U.S. president and deputy chief of staff to the first lady, delivered personal reflections and a slide presentation on Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton's May 11-12, 1995, visit to Ukraine.

It was a historic visit to the historic capital of Ukraine, for it was the first time a U.S. president had been welcomed in Kyiv on a state visit to independent Ukraine. Tens of thousands of people - some 40,000 according to police estimates - turned out to welcome the presidential entourage; at ceremonies near the Taras Shevchenko Monument next to Kyiv State University, the jubilant crowd chanted "Clinton, Clinton."

Ms. Verveer began her recap of the state visit by noting, "I felt privileged to be on the first state visit by an American president to Ukraine." It marked "a new partnership between two democracies" and served as "a reminder of what the Ukrainian American community means to Ukraine." On a personal level, she added, visiting Kyiv "felt as though I were going home."

Speaking on March 16 in the gymnasium of St. John's Ukrainian Catholic School, Ms. Verveer commented on her own background, noting that she had grown up a second-generation Ukrainian American "in a Ukrainian home rooted in tradition" in the coal region of Pennsylvania. "I learned a lot about the community there," she continued. "I saw all we have created as a community, and that cannot be taken for granted."

She recalled how 30 years ago at Georgetown University she had told Mr. Clinton that Ukraine would be free, and she proudly reconstructed that conversation for President Kuchma in Kyiv.

She told her audience that "the most emotional moment for me was when the Ukrainian and American national anthems were played at the official welcoming in Mariyinsky Palace," and pointed out that President Kuchma referred to Ukrainian Americans in his speech, as did President Clinton.

She went on to provide an insider's account of various aspects of the state visit and to highlight some of the speeches made by President Clinton during his various stops.

Among the highlights of the Kyiv visit were the first ladies' tea, a breakfast for women involved in Ukraine's newly emerging civic associations, a visit to the Babyn Yar memorial and commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, as well as a visit to a maternity clinic that is part of a joint program with the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. At that clinic Mrs. Clinton met with parents-to-be and was present at the formation of the Ukrainian Nurses Association. The first lady noted Florence Nightingale's pioneering nursing work in the Crimea in the 1850s.

The deputy assistant to the U.S. president also provided insight into the relationship between Presidents Clinton and Kuchma. "They get along very well and both have a great deal of confidence in what Ukraine can achieve," she underlined.

An extraordinary moment

The "most extraordinary moment" of the visit, according to Ms. Verveer, was at Shevchenko State University, where President Clinton received an honorary doctorate. "The students' reaction to this young president was exuberant," she noted, showing a slide of a multitude of young hands reaching out to touch the American president's outstretched hand - a scene of young faces buoyed by a historic moment.

Ms. Verveer also observed that the Clintons took a quick tour of Kyiv - an off-the-record tour, as she put it - because the first couple truly wanted to see some of the historic sites of the city. Thus, they visited St. Andrew's Sobor and the Monastery of the Caves (spending more than an hour there). The crowds lining the streets as the presidential entourage made its way through Kyiv were 10 to 15 people deep, she recalled, describing Kyiv as "visually beautiful" and its people as "extraordinary."

To close her presentation, Ms. Verveer showed a shot of students holding flags. "The sight of the American flag next to the Ukrainian flag," she emphasized, "is a symbol of the new reality" of the U.S.-Ukraine partnership.

A multitude of welcomes

Ms. Verveer was welcomed to Newark by New Jersey State Sen. Ronald Rice (28th district ), who also is a Newark city councilman; representatives of three local organizations who sponsored her talk, Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine, the Ukrainian American Professionals and Businesspersons Association of New York and New Jersey, and Ukrainian National Women's League of America Branch 75; as well as by the Rev. Frank Szadiak, pastor of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, and Sister Maria Rozmarynowycz, principal of St. John's School.

Following opening remarks by Ksenia Rakowsky of the UNWLA, and a prayer offered by the Rev. Szadiak, Areta Pawlynsky of the UAPBA provided a brief biographical sketch of this highly placed Ukrainian American who hails from Shamokin, Pa., and whose maternal and paternal grandparents had emigrated from Ukraine at the turn of the century, settling in Pennsylvania. Ms. Verveer (nee Starinshak) attended Transfiguration Ukrainian Catholic School in Shamokin and St. Mary's Villa Academy in Sloatsburg, N.Y.; both schools are run by the Ukrainian religious order of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate.

She holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Georgetown University, where she was a classmate of Mr. Clinton. She was an adviser to the Clinton-Gore campaign and served as special projects coordinator for Mrs. Clinton during the presidential transition. Prior to that she served in several positions on Capitol Hill and as a lobbyist for various advocacy groups.

Ms. Verveer's biography was filled in by Bozhena Olshaniwsky of AHRU, who noted that their paths had first crossed in 1982 when her organization had been lobbying for establishment of a U.S. government commission on the Great Famine in Ukraine. At that time, Mrs. Verveer was legislative director for Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio. Mrs. Olshaniwsky added that Ms. Verveer is also a member-at-large of the UNWLA. She visited Ukraine with the Clintons in May of 1995, and worked on arrangements for U.S. visits by Ukrainian Presidents Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma.

At the conclusion of the program schoolchildren of St. John's presented flowers to Ms. Verveer.

"I feel like I've gone back home," Ms. Verveer noted after being greeted. "I've never had so many welcomes."

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