Washington, D.C. - Mr. Speaker, I am honored to rise today and join the millions of my fellow Americans in commemorating Greek Independence Day which, on March 25th celebrated the 184th anniversary of the rebellion and the struggle of the Greek people against the Ottoman Empire.

 

What makes Greek Independence Day so special here in America is that it reminds us of the strong principles and bonds that the U.S. and Greece share. In looking into the struggles of our two nations, we realize how much our struggles have in common, and how much each country has been influenced by the other.

 

Greece and the United States are bound by an absolute commitment to the democratic ideals of justice and freedom and continue to be strong allies. By commemorating Greek Independence Day, we also celebrate the strength and the resolve of the human spirit that has been the inspiration of us all.

 

I am very pleased to place into the Congressional Record a statement made on this 184th anniversary of Greek independence written by one of my constituents, Constantinos Nicolaou:

 

STATEMENT OF MR. CONSTANTINOS NICOLAOU OF MARYLAND

The greatness of the human spirit, regardless of any efforts to suppress it, will always rise against tyranny and oppression and will start revolutions where heroism will pay any price, even the ultimate sacrifice of life, in order to gain freedom and independence.

Every time we commemorate heroism such as the one exhibited by the Greeks on March 25, 1821 and during the ensuing struggle for their freedom, we cannot help but think of our great Founding Fathers, who were so much influenced by the ancient Greeks in their struggles for freedom and the creation of what had become the freest, most democratic country in history, the United States of America.

Thomas Jefferson looked to the ancient Greek philosophers and their teachings as an inspiration in trying to create a fair, strong, democratic state. And it was not accidental that many of the Greek leaders of the 1821 revolution, turned to America for inspiration as they were embarking in their struggle for freedom.

Both nations were faced with seemingly insurmountable struggles, rising against empires to claim their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Both nations became triumphant at the end, because of their love of freedom. The great American Patriot, Patrick Henry, proclaimed, ``Give me liberty or give me death.'' The Greek patriots went to battle proclaiming, ``Eleftheria I Thanatos'' --liberty or death.

As with the American Revolution, the Greek revolution is filled with stories of heroism and sacrifice. News of such heroism and sacrifice met with strong feelings of support by the American public and by their politicians, including President James Monroe and John Quincy Adams, who expressed their support for the Greek revolution through their annual messages to Congress. Henry Clay, our secretary of state in 1825, was very vocal in his support of Greece's fight for independence. Daniel Webster, more often than not, influenced his colleagues in looking into the Greek struggle with sympathetic interests.

It is, of course, no surprise that our Founding Fathers and other prominent Americans were supportive of the Greek struggle for independence. As mentioned, they themselves had been inspired by the ancient Greeks. Thomas Jefferson, of all the Founding Fathers, had a particular affinity for Greece, not only because of its classical republican philosophy but also because of his studies of the origins of languages. He expressed that affinity many times, as in a letter to John Brazier on August 24, 1819. In that letter, Thomas Jefferson addresses ``Mr. Pickering's Memoir of the Modern Greek,'' and the Memoirs review by Brazier. He tells Brazier, ``I had been much pleased with the memoir, and was much also with your review of it. I have little hope indeed of recovery of the ancient pronunciation of the finest of human languages, but still I rejoice to the attention the subject seems to excite with you, because it is evidence that our country begins to have a taste for something more than merely as much Greek as will pass a candidate for clerical ordination. . . . Among the values of classical learning, I estimate the luxury of learning the Greek and Roman authors in all the beauties of their originals. And why should not this innocent and elegant luxury take its preeminent stand ahead of all those addressed merely to the senses? I think myself more indebted to my father for this than for all other luxuries his cares and affections have placed within my reach.''

Jefferson expressed his empathies with Greece revolting against its Ottoman rulers. In an 1823 letter to Adamantios Coray, the Greek patriot and scholar that he had met in Paris years earlier, he stated:

``..... You have certainly began at the right end towards preparing them [the Greek people] for the great object they are now contending for, by improving their minds and qualifying them for self-government. For this they will owe you lasting honors. Nothing is more likely to forward this object than a study of the fine models of science left by their ancestors; to whom we also are all indebted for the lights which originally led ourselves out of Gothic darkness.''

No people sympathize more feelingly than ours with the suffering of your countrymen; none offer more sincere and ardent prayers to heaven for their success. And nothing indeed but the fundamental principle of our government never to entangle us with the broils of Europe could restrain our generous youth from taking some part in this holy cause. Possessing ourselves the combined blessing of liberty and order, we wish the same to other countries, and to none more than yours, which she first of civilized nations presented examples of what man should be.

The ties that bind America and Greece go, of course, far beyond their parallel and noble struggles for freedom. The philosophical and cultural connections, although little known to the public at large, could not be stronger or better assimilated. Such connections were born almost at the same time with the birth of our nation, if not before. In his excellent study of ``Lincoln at Gettysburg,'' Gary Wills tells us:

``America as a second Athens was an idea whose moment had come in the nineteenth century. ..... In the early 19th century, an era that became known as America's Greek Revival was taking shape. Archaeological discoveries in Greece at the time brought the ancient democracy to mind just as modern Greece began its struggle for freedom from the Turks.

``Edward Everett, President of Harvard, founder of Mount Auburn, congressman, Massachusetts's governor, minister to the Court of St. James's in London, senator, secretary of state and principal speaker at Gettysburg years later, was the leader of the Greek Revival. Harvard established its new chair of ancient Greek studies for him. While studying in Germany, Everett went to Greece, `to walk over the battlefields where the first democracy of the West won its freedom.' He returned to America convinced that a new Athens was rising here. His appearances, `prompted rallies for Greek independence'--a favorite cause of Everett.

``Everett's prestige influenced others, including historian George Bancroft, whose `main interest was Greek history.'. . . Bancroft was ahead of the wave of histories that would glorify Periclean Athens in Victorian England. Direct democracy, a flawed system in republican theory, was rehabilitated, for its usefulness in the parliamentary reform movement, by British historians like George Grote. In America, a similar motion toward government by the people, not just for the republic, was signaled by an enthusiasm for Greek symbols. Barcroft became a Jacksonian Democrat when he began to apply historical skills formed on the Attic democracy to America's development. Walter Savage Landor recognized what was happening in America when he dedicated the second volume of his Pericles and Aspasia to President Andrew Jackson.''

Greece and the United States, bound by their absolute commitment to freedom and justice, have always been the strongest of the allies. Greece stood by us and fought with us in every single war or conflict since we both gained our freedom. And we always stood by Greece, and although at times we appeared to have forgotten how loyal and valuable the Greeks had been to us, our ultimate commitment to their freedom and well-being never wavered.

And as we commemorate and fight to free all people, let us remember that some other friends of ours are still agonizing and asking for our help in fighting forces of evil still occupying their land and their homes. The people of the Republic of Cyprus, Greeks and Turks and all others, should be given more active support by our great nation in their efforts to reunite the island and get rid of the occupying forces. U.S. leadership is essential, and now it is the time that we should remember that the Cypriot people are where we had been, and they are striving for what we have earned long time ago, that is, their right to freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is essential that American leadership urges Turkish and Turkish Cypriot leaders towards peace. These are the two sides that hold in their hands, to the largest extent, the peaceful solution to the Cyprus problem. A solution that undoubtedly will benefit all the people of Cyprus, but it will also benefit the nations of Greece and Turkey, will stabilize the region, and will strengthen the bonds and relationships between the United States and the countries involved in the conflict.

As we commemorate Greek Independence Day, we are celebrating the strength and the resolve of the human spirit as well as man's unbending will in the pursuit of freedom. The people of ancient Greece gave us values and ethics and showed us how to fight for freedom and democracy. Our country, more than any other country, shares those values and ethics, and in days such as this we reaffirm our common democratic heritage with the Greek people. The commemoration and celebration remind us also that we should stay forever vigilant in fighting for and protecting our freedom and our democracy, least we lose the right to determine our lives and our future.

Dionisios Solomos was the great poet who transformed in his poetry the unparalleled struggle and the sacrifices of Hellenism in the pursuit of Freedom. The Revolution so much influenced his poetry that he is considered the national poet of Greece. One of his most inspired poems, Hymn to Liberty, has almost become synonymous to that Revolution and it became Greece's National Anthem. The poem was published in 1825, along with translations in Italian, French and English.

The Revolution would have never been the same without Solomos. The enthusiasm of the fighters, as well as the international sympathy among the Philhellenes would have definitely been smaller without the Hymn to Liberty.

Probably nowhere was Solomos's vision of Liberty depicted better than here, in the United States. Here, in the Rotunda of our own Capitol Hill, we see a most wonderful painting of Liberty, with the sword in hand chasing her enemies, exactly the way Solomos envisioned her in his Hymn to Liberty. This figure was painted by another son of Greece, one who really grasped Solomos's vision of Liberty, Constantino Brumidi.

And as a tribute to the United States, Solomos envisions our country rejoicing in seeing Greece fighting for Freedom. He describes the American feelings this way:

Most heartily was gladdened

George Washington's brave land:

For the iron bonds remembered,

Her old slavery's cruel brand.

We live today in a great, free country. Our country became great, and will always be so, because the spirit and the morals that we share with Greece, as so eloquently expressed by Solomos, will always be with us.