Background Report On Taras Shevchenko (06/27/04)

ARAS SHEVCHENKO IN WASHINGTON: 1964-2004

Svoboda, Special Washington Edition, June 27, 1964

Background Report On Taras Shevchenko

Taras Shevchenko, 19th Century Ukrainian poet and champion of liberty against Russian tyranny, will be memorialized by a statue to be unveiled in Washington, D.C., in the Spring of 1964 - the 150th anniversary of Shevchenko's birth.

Shevchenko a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln, was born in serfdom, won his freedom, then risked it in his fight for the freedom of others, regardless of color, creed or national origin. Shevchenko sought in his poetry to spread the American ideals of freedom to East-Central Europe. Today, over 100 years later, Shevchenko stands as a universal symbol of human freedom to millions of people in East-Central Europe, in America and throughout the world.

American leaders of both political parties have praised Taras Shevchenko as a poet and as a champion of liberty. A few of these comments follow:

The late President John F. Kennedy

"I am pleased to add my voice to those honoring the great Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. We honor him for his rich contribution to the culture not only of Ukraine, which he loved so well and described so eloquently, but of the world. His work is a noble part of our historical heritage."

Senator Thomas J. Dodd (D-Conn.)

"Taras Shevchenko belongs in the first instance to the Ukrainian people. But, in a larger sense, he belongs to all mankind... We honor him as a fighter for freedom and as a champion of the persecuted and oppressed. We honor him as a universal hero and as one of the towering moral personalities of all time."

Senator Hubert H. Humphrey (D-Minn.)

"His (Shevchenko's) life and writings have played a great role in shaping the Ukrainian National spirit and culture. The ideals to which Shevchenko stubbornly clung - national self-determination and democratic rule - remain a guiding light today for Ukrainians and other oppressed nationalities of Eastern Europe."

Senator Jacob K. Javits (R-N.Y.)

"Taras Shevchenko was a bard of freedom... It is fitting that the statue of such a national hero, who taught the American ideals of patriotism and service to man, should stand in the capital of the U.S."

Former Congressman Alvin Bentley (R-Mich.)

"In authorizing the erection of this memorial to Taras Shevchenko... Congress was paying tribute which was both well-deserved and long overdue to a recognized champion of human liberty and freedom. We are all familiar with the inspiration which Shevchenko, a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln and an admirer of George Washington, has given the people of his native Ukraine and freedom-loving peoples everywhere.

Congressman Edward Derwinski (R-Ill.)

"Ukraine represents the largest single anti-Communist nationalistic force within the present boundaries of the Soviet Union and Congressional support of the monument to Shevchenko represents a psychopolitical blow against the Soviet Union and its insidious propaganda operation."

Congressman Thaddeus Dulski (D-N.Y.)

"The coming Shevchenko statue will in every respect be a statue symbolizing world freedom. This is the most important aspect of the Shevchenko project. Shevchenko keynotes world freedom, especially for the captive nations in the USSR itself."

Congressman Michael A. Feighan (D-Ohio)

"Taras Shevchenko was a unique champion of freedom for all men and independence for all nations, just as he was the avowed enemy of tyranny, despotism, and imperialism."

Congressman Daniel Flood (D-Pa.)

"When Shevchenko's monument to world freedom will be unveiled next May, it will also be a monumental tribute to all Americans who, like the late President, have with knowledge and perception understood the universal symbol of Shevchenko for world freedom. Indeed, the statue will honor the understanding and vision of our late President."

Congressman John Lesinski (D-Mich.)

"Taras Shevchenko... was distinguished as a man of letters, an eminent poet, and a fervent patriot of unblemished character. But more than that, he was a voice crying for freedom from the dark depths of slavery and serfdom. During his lifetime, the Ukrainian people were almost as today under the Russian Communists in the Kremlin. Today, as 45 million Ukrainians enslaved by the Russian Communists work unceasingly to obtain their freedom, they look to Taras Shevchenko as the symbol of true liberty and take inspiration and incentive from his life and works."

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