Hungary–United States relations

Hungarian – American relations

Hungary	United States
Diplomatic mission
Hungarian Embassy, Washington, D.C.	United States Embassy, Budapest
Envoy
Ambassador László Szabó	David Pressman

Diplomatic relations between Hungary and the United States of America have existed with interruptions since 1848.

History

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets with Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó in Budapest in February 2019

Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán on a 2018 NATO international meeting.

Pre-independence

The Hungarian State produced by the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was recognised by the United States. Hungarian revolutionary Lajos Kossuth was brought to the United States by an American warship in 1851. An American diplomatic post to the Kingdom of Hungary was established in 1869, and upgraded to a consulate in 1904. ^[1]

Interwar

President Warren G. Harding called for the United States Congress to create a peace treaty between the United States and Hungary on 2 July 1921. Negotiations started in Budapest on 9 July 1921, and there were no difficulties as there was no significant conflict between the two sides during the war nor were any Americans held as prisoners of war. The U.S.–Hungarian Peace Treaty was signed on 29 August. ^[2]

The United States' legation was established in Budapest on 26 December 1921. Hungary opened its first consulates in New York City, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Clveland in 1922. László Széchenyi, the first Hungarian minister to the United States, presented his credentials on 11 January 1922, and served until 31 March 1933. ^[1]

In the 1930s Standard Oil of New Jersey started exploring for oil in Hungary. ^[3] The Hungarian-American Oil Corporation (MAORT) started oil production in 1937. This rose from 1.3 million tons of oil in 1937, to 37.3 million tons in 1938, and 141.8 million tons in 1939. ^[4]

World War II

Orbán with George W. Bush at the White House in 2001

Orbán with Mike Pompeo in Budapest in February 2019

The United States represented the British after the United Kingdom and Hungary ended diplomatic relations on 7 April 1941. The British ultimatum to Hungary requesting that it end its participation in the war against the Soviet Union was delivered by Americans on 29 November. The United States was opposed to the United Kingdom declaring war on Hungary as it was believed that it would strengthen the pro-war faction in Hungary. The ultimatum expired and the British declared war on 7 December. ^[5]

Germany's declaration of war against the United States resulted in László Bárdossy ending diplomatic relations with the United States on 11 December. Bárdossy was opposed to war with the United States as he felt it would be similar to Panama and Costa Rica declarations of war against Japan, as neither side would be greatly involved in the conflict against the subject of the declaration. ^[6] However, Bárdossy informed Herbert Pell on 13 December that a state of war existed between the United States and Hungary. ^[7]

U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull opposed declaring war on Hungary as he viewed it as a puppet state of Germany. ^[8] On 2 June 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested the United States Congress to declare war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. ^[9]

Tibor Eckhardt left Hungary on 7 March 1941, and travelled to the United States. Germany's Federal Foreign Office was suspicious of Eckhardt, but Horthy denied sending him on a mission. Eckhardt made contact with the United States Department of State as the leader of an independent Hungary movement. Eckhardt was stripped of his Hungarian citizenship in October. His independent Hungary movement disbanded in July 1942. ^[10]

Polling

According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 38% of Hungarians approve of U.S. leadership, with 20% disapproving and 42% uncertain, a decrease from 53% approval in 2011. ^[11] According to a 2018 poll, 68% of Hungarians viewed the United States favorably. ^[12]

High-level mutual visits

Guest	Host	Place of visit	Date of visit
Prime Minister Ferenc Nagy	President Harry S. Truman	Washington, D.C., New York City	June 11–17, 1946 (1946-06-11 – 1946-06-17)
Prime Minister Károly Grósz	President Ronald Reagan	Washington, D.C.	July 26–28, 1988 (1988-07-26 – 1988-07-28)
President George H. W. Bush	Prime Minister Miklós Németh	Budapest	July 11–13, 1989 (1989-07-11 – 1989-07-13)
Acting President Árpád Göncz	President George H. W. Bush	Washington, D.C.	May 18, 1990
Prime Minister József Antall			October 18, 1990
President Árpád Göncz			May 23, 1991
Prime Minister József Antall			October 4, 1991
President Árpád Göncz	President Bill Clinton		April 20–22, 1993 (1993-04-20 – 1993-04-22)
			June 20–21, 1994 (1994-06-20 – 1994-06-21)
President Bill Clinton	President Árpád Göncz Prime Minister Gyula Horn	Budapest	December 5, 1994
Prime Minister Gyula Horn	President Bill Clinton	Washington, D.C.	June 6, 1995
President Bill Clinton	President Árpád Göncz Prime Minister Gyula Horn	Taszár	December 13, 1996
President Árpád Göncz	President Bill Clinton	Washington, D.C.	March 17–18, 1998 (1998-03-17 – 1998-03-18)
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán			October 5–8, 1998 (1998-10-05 – 1998-10-08)
			April 23–25, 1999 (1999-04-23 – 1999-04-25)
President Árpád Göncz		Washington, D.C., Chicago	June 6–9, 1999 (1999-06-06 – 1999-06-09)
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán	President George W. Bush	Washington, D.C.	May 29, 2001
Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy			November 7–9, 2002 (2002-11-07 – 2002-11-09)
			June 21–23, 2004 (2004-06-21 – 2004-06-23)
Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány			October 3–7, 2005 (2005-10-03 – 2005-10-07)
President George W. Bush	President László Sólyom Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány	Budapest	June 21–22, 2006 (2006-06-21 – 2006-06-22)
Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai	President Barack Obama	Washington, D.C.	December 4, 2009
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán		Chicago	May 20–21, 2012 (2012-05-20 – 2012-05-21)
		Washington, D.C.	March 31 – April 1, 2016 (2016-03-31 – 2016-04-01)
	President Donald Trump		May 13, 2019

Resident diplomatic missions

of Hungary in the United States

• Embassy ^[13] (1): Washington, D.C.
• Consulate General (3): Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City
• Vice-Consulates (2): Houston, Miami
• Honorary Consulate General (1): Atlanta
• Consulate Honorary (16): Boston, Cleveland, Denver, Hampden, Honolulu, Mayagüez, Mercer Island, New Orleans, Portland, Sacramento, St. Louis, St. Louis Park, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Sarasota, Charlotte

of the United States in Hungary

• Embassy ^[14] (1): Budapest

• 
  Embassy of Hungary in Washington, D.C.
• 
  Consulate-General of Hungary in New York City
• 
  Embassy of the United States in Budapest

Sister-Twinning cities

• Budapest and New York City, New York
• Miskolc and Cleveland, Ohio
• Pécs and Seattle, Washington / Tucson, Arizona
• Siófok and Walnut Creek, California
• Szeged and Toledo, Ohio
• Tatabánya and Fairfield, Connecticut
• Tokaj and Sonoma, California

See also

• Hungarian Americans
• Hungarian Ambassador to the United States
• United States Ambassador to Hungary
• Foreign relations of the United States
• Foreign relations of Hungary
• United States–European Union relations

References

1. Hungary-U.S. Diplomatic Relations.
2. Major 1974, p. 174.
3. Fenyo 1972, p. 93.
4. Fenyo 1972, p. 94.
5. Fenyo 1972, pp. 45–47.
6. Fenyo 1972, p. 51.
7. Fenyo 1972, p. 52.
8. Fenyo 1972, p. 53.
9. Message to Congress on a State of War Between the United States and Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria.
10. Fenyo 1972, pp. 111–112.
11. U.S. Global Leadership Project Report - 2012 Gallup
12. "Special Eurobarometer 479: Future of Europe". 10 December 2018. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
13. Embassy of Hungary in Washington, D.C.
14. "Embassy of United States in Budapest". Archived from the original on 2017-01-01. Retrieved 2017-01-01.

Works cited

Books

• Major, Mark (1974). American Hungarian Relations 1918-1944. Danubian Press. ISBN   0879340363.
• Fenyo, Mario (1972). Hitler, Horthy, and Hungary: German-Hungarian Relations, 1941-1944. Yale University Press.

Web

• "Hungary-U.S. Diplomatic Relations". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 6 July 2025.
• "Message to Congress on a State of War Between the United States and Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria". The American Presidency Project. Archived from the original on 6 July 2025.

Further reading

Further information: Hungarian Americans § further reading

• Bártfai, Imre, "Hungary & the U.S.: Will there be a New Direction for American Diplomacy?", IndraStra Global (2017) 3, ISSN 2381-3652 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. 95–109 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).
• Sakmyster, Thomas L. (1994). Hungary's Admiral on Horseback: Miklós Horthy, 1918–1944. Boulder: East European Monographs.
• 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): 1-19 online.
• Melissa Ford’s "Hungary & Texas: A Comparative Perspective https://danubeinstitute.hu/en/research/hungary-texas-a-comparative-perspective

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.

 This article incorporates public domain material from U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.

External links

• History of Hungary - U.S. relations