Hungarian-Americanrelations and Contacts
BTAN33002BA, BTANL3302BA, BTAN5203OMA:
HUNGARIAN-AMERICANRELATIONS AND CONTACTS
(For BA3 NAD track English majors and corresponding students, OMA, Spring 2018)
This course is dedicated to my many Hungarian-American friends including the late Rev. Aladár Komjáthy.
Format: lecture, 2 hours; graded
Place/Time: Lecture Hall XIV: Thursdays 10-12
Tutor: Tibor Glant (120/2)
Office hours:WED 13-14, THU 9-10 by appointment (ext. 22507; ) website:
Description of course
This lecture course offers insights into an often neglected aspect of both American and Hungarian history: the various links and ties between the two countries. The study of cultural, political, and economic contacts will be supplemented with a detailed look at Americans of Hungarian descent. We will examine the evolution of the American image of Hungary and the Hungarian image of America through primary and secondary sources, and make an attempt to strike a balance between images and reality.
Grading
The course ends in a written exam. It will make up 100% of the final grade. A=91-100; B=81-90; C=71-80; D=61-70; F is 60 or below. The exam will include a text recognition intro, anyone failing to identify all the texts by author and title will automatically fail. Students are advised that the quality of their written andspoken performance will count significantly toward their final grade
Additional credit can be obtained by attending various US-Hungarian relations events in the American Corner by writing 300-350-word summaries of the various events, at 5 credit points per paper. These events will be announced in class.
Readings and other course materials
Required readings are listed in the lecture notes, with some additional recommended readings thrown in. Some of these materials are available electronically, others only in print form. We will be watching various videos in class; these are also part of the required materials. Lecture notes are posted on my website.The lecture notes are available from my website, the readings from the Library (101).
Additional help:The American Corner in Debrecen hosted a series of lectures (in Hungarian) on US-Hungarian relations in the spring of 2010. These lectures are not compulsory but are highly recommended, and are available from youtube and the Institute Library as well as in the American Corner. These lectures supplement, but do not substitute for the class.
Please note that due to my speaking and travel arrangements this spring, some classes will be rescheduled. Students will be notified via Neptun.
Week-by-Week Description of Course
Week 1 (FEB 15/20): Orientation + The Last Hungarian on Buckeye
General discussion of course goals and requirements; video. Please note that we will start the course on week 1, and the video presented here will be part of the exam. (This class will be traded for the Intro to Canadian Studies lecture on February 20.)
Week 2 (FEB 22): Historians of the Hungarian-American Past + Early Contacts
Review of the lecture on immigration from the Intro to AmStud lecture; key terms used in upcoming classes; mutual images and stereotypes of Americans, Hungarians, and Hungarian-Americans; A brief survey of the historians of American-Hungarian relations. Early contacts between the two peoples: Tyrker, Stephen Parmenius of Buda, Captain John Smith, etc.
Week 3 (MAR 01): 19th-century contacts: Hungarian travelers, Kossuth and America, the Kossuth emigration
Hungarian travelers in the US: Bölöni-Farkas, Haraszthy, Xántus, etc. Kossuth’s life and career. His first contact with Americans: the first diplomatic interlude between the two countries: Stiles, Mann, and Damburghy. Kossuth’s American visit, 1851-52. Goals, expectations, achievements. The real significance of his US visit. The “Kossuth emigration.”
Week 4 (MAR 08): The Turn of the Century: the New Immigration and Personal Contacts
The causes and ethnic composition of emigration from Hungary, the trip, target areas in the United States, and the reception of the immigrants. Life in America: lodging, work, entertainment, religion, press, organizations. Hunglish. Personal contacts: Apponyi, TR, Marcus Braun. American and Hungarian government responses Images: Woodrow Wilson, Hungary, and the Hungarians.
Week5 (March 15): National Holiday, no class
Week 6 (MAR 22): World War I
US-Austro-Hungarian relations, the life and problems of the Hungarians in America (“the crisis of split loyalties”), the changing image of Hungary, and American plans for and achievements at the Paris Peace Conference.
Week7 (MAR 29): The Peace Treaty of Trianon and Revisionism
The US and Hungary in 1919-21: war in the Carpathian basin, the two revolutions and the counterrevolution in Hungary, the separate peace treaty signed in August 1921; the US in Hungarian revisionist expectations; case studies: Teleki, Justice for Hungary, Kossuth pilgrimage.
Week8 (APR 05): reading week, no class
Week 9 (APR 12): Between the Wars: Diplomacy, Immigration, Hungarian Life in the U. S.
New developments in American-Hungarian relations: full diplomatic relations established; economic, cultural, and political contacts. Major changes in the life of the Hungarians in America. Immigration restriction: the Reed-Johnson Act of 1924. Above the quota admissions: Jászi, etc.
Week 10(APR 19) World War II
Jewish refugees in America, Hungarians in the Manhattan Project, Bartók. Hungrians in America: attempts to raise support for a democratic and independent Hungary. Wartime dilemmas and diplomacy. The Big Three and the future of Hungary. FDR, the four policemen, and Otto von Habsburg. Soviet “liber-occupation” and the second Trianon Treaty.
Week 11 (APR 26): Postwar Trends in Immigration
The three major waves of Hungarian immigration: the 45ers, the 47ers, and the 56ers. Their social and political background. Hungarian life in America during the cold war.
Week 12 (MAY 03): US-Hungarian Diplomatic Relations during the Cold War
Summation of US-Hungarian relations during the cold war. The four major periods discussed include transition, hostility, normalization, and Hungary leaving the Soviet zone.
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