Hungary and the United States of America are bound together through myriad people-to-people contacts in business, the arts, academia, and other spheres. According to the U.S. Department of State, diplomatic relations between the United States and Hungary were first established in 1921. Hungary severed these ties in 1941 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, but relations were reestablished after the war. During the early years of the communist era, relations remained strained, particularly following the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

, which was suppressed by Soviet forces. Diplomatic ties began to improve gradually from the late 1960s onward. After the

fall of communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

in 1989, both diplomatic and economic relations significantly deepened. Hungary joined NATO in 1999, marking a new era in which the two countries became formal allies. According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 38% of

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

approve of U.S. leadership, with 20% disapproving and 42% uncertain, a decrease from 53% approval in 2011. According to a 2018 poll, 68% of

viewed the United States favorably.

History

Until 1867, the Kingdom of Hungary was a part of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

and from 1867 to 1918 of the dual monarchy of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. United States

diplomatic relations Diplomacy is the communication by representatives of state, intergovernmental, or non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern Diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. ...

with Hungary were conducted through the

United States Ambassador to Austria This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to Austria. The United States first established diplomatic relations with Austria in 1838 during the time of the Austrian Empire. Relations between the United States have been continuous since ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire following World War I, Hungary and the United States established bilateral relations through a

legation A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a minister. Ambassadors outranked ministers and had precedence at official events. Legation ...

in Budapest established in 1921. The first American ambassador to Hungary ( Theodore Brentano) was appointed on February 10, 1922. Diplomatic relations were interrupted during

. Hungary severed relations with the U.S. on December 11, 1941, when the United States

declared war A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the public signing of a document) by an authorized party of a national govern ...

on Germany. Two days later, on December 13, Hungary declared war on the United States. On June 5, 1942, the United States declared war on Hungary. The US declared war on

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

the same day. The declaration of war passed both houses of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

unanimously, by votes of 361–0 in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

and 73–0 in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Normal bilateral relations between Hungary and the U.S. were resumed in December 1945 when a U.S. ambassador was appointed and the embassy was reopened. Relations between the United States and Hungary following

were affected by the Soviet armed forces' occupation of Hungary. Full diplomatic relations were established at the legation level on October 12, 1945, before the signing of the Hungarian peace treaty on February 10, 1947. After the communist takeover in 1947–48, relations with the

People's Republic of Hungary The Hungarian People's Republic (HPR) was a landlocked country in Central Europe from its formation on 20 August 1949 until the establishment of the current Republic of Hungary on 23 October 1989. It was a professed communist state, govern ...

became increasingly strained by the nationalization of U.S.-owned property and what the United States considered unacceptable treatment of U.S.

citizen Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality ...

s and personnel, as well as restrictions on the operations of the American legation. Though relations deteriorated further after the suppression of the

, an exchange of

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

s in 1966 inaugurated an era of improving relations. In 1972, a consular convention was concluded to provide consular protection to U.S. citizens in Hungary. In 1973, a bilateral agreement was reached under which

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

settled the nationalization claims of American citizens. On 6 January 1978, the United States returned the

Holy Crown of Hungary The Holy Crown of Hungary ( , ), also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, named in honour of Saint Stephen I of Hungary, was the coronation crown used by the Kingdom of Hungary for most of its existence; kings were crowned with it since the tw ...

, which had been safeguarded by the United States since the end of World War II. Symbolically and actually, this event marked the beginning of excellent relations between the two countries. A 1978 bilateral trade agreement included extension of most-favored-nation status to Hungary. Cultural and scientific exchanges were expanded. As Hungary began to pull away from the Soviet orbit, the United States offered assistance and expertise to help establish a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, a democratic political system, and a plan for a

free market In economics, a free market is an economic market (economics), system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of ...

economy. Between 1989 and 1993, the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act provided more than $136 million for economic restructuring and private-sector development. The Hungarian-American Enterprise Fund has offered

loans In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the debt ( ...

, equity capital, and technical assistance to promote private-sector development. The U.S. Government has provided expert and financial assistance for the development of modern and Western institutions in many policy areas, including national security,

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

, free media, environmental regulations, education, and

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

. American direct investment has had a direct, positive impact on the Hungarian economy and on continued good bilateral relations. When Hungary acceded to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

in April 1999, it became a formal ally of the United States. This move has been consistently supported by the 1.5 million-strong Hungarian-American community. The U.S. government supported Hungarian accession to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

in 2004, and continues to work with

as a valued partner in the Transatlantic relationship. Hungary joined the

Visa Waiver Program The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is a program of the Federal government of the United States, United States government that allows nationals of specific countries to travel to the United States for tourism, business, or while in transit for up t ...

in 2008.

High-level mutual visits

Resident diplomatic missions

;of Hungary in the United States * Embassy (1):

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

* Consulate General (3):

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

* Vice-Consulates (2):

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

* Honorary Consulate General (1):

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

* Consulate Honorary (16):

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Hampden,

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, Mayagüez,

Mercer Island Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located on an island of the same name in the southern portion of Lake Washington. Mercer Island is in the Seattle metropolitan area, with Seattle to its west and Bellevue t ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, St. Louis Park,

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

, Charlotte ;of the United States in Hungary * Embassy (1):

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

File:Embassy of Hungary, Washington, D.C.jpg, Embassy of Hungary in Washington, D.C. File:Hungary Consulate E52 jeh.jpg, Consulate-General of Hungary in New York City File:Budapest U.S. embassy.JPG, Embassy of the United States in Budapest

Sister-Twinning cities

References

* Bártfai, Imre, "Hungary & the U.S.: Will there be a New Direction for American Diplomacy?", ''IndraStra Global'' (2017) 3, ISSN 2381-365
online
* Borhi, László. "The United States and Hungary, 1956–1990." in ''Human Rights and Political Dissent in Central Europe'' (Routledge, 2021) pp. 187–201. * Frank, Tibor. ''Ethnicity, Propaganda, Myth-Making: Studies in Hungarian Connections to Britain and America, 1848–1945'' (Budapest, Akadémiai Kiadó, 1999). **Frank, Tibor. "Friend or foe? The changing image of Hungary in the United-States." ''Hungarian Quarterly'' 38.148 (1997): 116-124. * Frank, Tibor. ''Double Exile: Migration of Jewish-Hungarian Professionals Through Germany to the United States, 1919-1945'' (2009) * Frank, Tibor. ''Genius in Exile: Professional Immigration from Interwar Hungary to the United States'' (2006). * Glant, Tibor, "Ninety Years of United States-Hungarian Relations," ''Eger Journal of American Studies'', 13 (2012), 163–83. * Glant, Tibor, "The Myth and History of Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points in Hungary," ''Eger Journal of American Studies'' (Eger), 12 (2010), 301–22. * Glant, Tibor, "Herbert Hoover and Hungary, 1918-1923" ''Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies'' 8#2 (2002), pp. 95–10
online
* Horcicka, Václav, "Austria-Hungary, Unrestricted Submarine Warfare, and the United States' Entrance into the First World War," ''International History Review'' (Burnaby), 34 (June 2012), 245–69. * Kurucz, Milan. "Hungary-United States Relations under Obama and Trump Administration." ''Politické vedy'' 23.2 (2020): 98-113. * Lévai, Csaba, "Henry Clay and Lajos Kossuth's Visit in the United States, 1851–1852," ''Eger Journal of American Studies'' (Eger), 13 (2012), pp 219–41. *Pastor, Peter. ''Hungary between Wilson and Lenin: The Hungarian Revolution of 1918-1919 and the Big Three'' (1976) * Peterecz, Zoltán. "Royall Tyler in Hungary: An American of the League of Nations and Hungarian Reconstruction Efforts, 1924–1938." ''Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies'' 27.1 (2021
online
* Peterecz, Zoltán, "'A Certain Amount of Tactful Undermining': Herbert C. Pell and Hungary in 1941," ''The Hungarian Quarterly'' (Budapest), 52 (Spring–Summer 2011), pp 124–37. *Peterecz, Zoltán, "American Foreign Policy and American Financial Controllers in Europe in the 1920s," ''Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies'' (Debrecen), 18 (2012), pp 457–85. * Peterecz, Zoltán, "Money Has No Smell: Anti-Semitism in Hungary and the Anglo-Saxon World, and the Launching of the International Reconstruction Loan for Hungary in 1924," ''Eger Journal of American Studies'' (Eger), 13 (2012), pp 273–90. * Peterecz, Zoltán, "The Fight for a Yankee over Here: Attempts to Secure an American for an Official League of Nations Post in the Postwar Central European Financial Reconstruction Era of the 1920s," ''Eger Journal of American Studies'' (Eger), 12 (2010), pp 465–88. * Puskas, Julianna. ''Ties That Bind, Ties That Divide. One Hundred Years of Hungarian Experience in the United States'' (Holmes and Meier, 2000), 465 pp. * Romsics, Ignác, ed. ''Twentieth Century Hungary and the Great Powers'' (Boulder: East European Monographs, 1996). * * Várdy, Steven Béla, and Thomas Szendrey. "Hungarian Americans." ''Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America,'' edited by Thomas Riggs, (3rd ed., vol. 2, Gale, 2014), pp. 373–386
Online
*Várdy, Steven Béla and Agnes Huszar Vardy, eds. ''Hungarian Americans in the Current of History'' (2010), essays by scholars
online review
* Vida, István Kornél. ''Hungarian Émigrés in the American Civil War: A History and Biographical Dictionary'' (McFarland, 2012) 256 pp. * Zsolt, Péter, Tamás Tóth, and Márton Demeter. "We are the ones who matter! Pro and anti-Trumpists’ attitudes in Hungary." ''Journal of Contemporary European Studies'' (2021): 1-1
online

Cold War 1945-1989

* Bischof, Günter. "United States Responses to the Soviet Suppression of Rebellions in the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia." ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'' 22.1 (2011): 61-80. * Borhi, László. "Rollback, Liberation, Containment, or Inaction? U.S. Policy and Eastern Europe in the 1950s." ''Journal of Cold War Studies'' 1.3 (1999): 67-110
online
* Borhi, László. "From the Prehistory of the Cold War (Hungary and the United States 1944–49)." ''Acta Historica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae'' 35.1/4 (1989): 217-249
online
* Borhi, László. "‘We Hungarian communists are realists’: János Kádár's foreign policy in the light of Hungarian–US relations, 1957–67." ''Cold War History'' 4.2 (2004): 1-32. * Borhi, László. "In the Power Arena: U.S.-Hungarian Relations, 1942–1989," ''The Hungarian Quarterly'' (Budapest), 51 (Summer 2010), pp 67–81. * Borhi, László. "Dealing with dictatorship: The US and Hungary during the early kádár years." ''Hungarian Studies'' 27.1 (2013): 15-66
online
* Borhi, László. ''Hungary in the Cold War, 1945-1956: Between the United States and the Soviet Union'' (2004
online
* Gati, Charles. ''Hungary and the Soviet Bloc'' (Duke University Press, 1986). * Glant, Tibor. ''Remember Hungary 1956: Essays on the Hungarian Revolution and Wars of Independence in American Memory'' (2007
online review
* Granville, Johanna. "Radio Free Europe’s Impact on the Kremlin in the Hungarian Crisis of 1956: Three Hypotheses." ''Canadian Journal of History'' 39.3 (2004): 515-546. * Holloway, David, and Victor McFarland. "The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 in the Context of the Cold War Military Confrontation." ''Hungarian Studies'' 20.1 (2006): 31-49
online
* Jarvis, Eric. "The Creation of a Controversial Anti‐Communist Martyr in Early Cold War America: Reactions to the Arrest and Show Trial of Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty of Hungary, 1948–1949." ''Historian'' 78.2 (2016): 277-308. * Max, Stanley. ''The Anglo-American Response to the Sovietization of Hungary, 1945– 1948'' (Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1990). * Radvanyi, Janos. ''Hungary and the Superpowers, The 1956 Revolution and Realpolitik'' (Stanford University Press, 1972). * Webb, Alban. "Cold War Radio and the Hungarian Uprising, 1956." ''Cold War History'' 13.2 (2013): 221-238.

External links

History of Hungary - U.S. relations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hungary-United States relations Bilateral relations of the United States

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...