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Tony Snow Subject Files
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George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
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Speechwriting, White House Office of
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Snow, Tony, Files
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Subject File, 1988-1993
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[Correspondence-General, 1991]
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18
29
2
1
ROMANIAN HISTORICAL STUDIES
Traian Golea
1029 Euclid Avenue
Miami Beach, Fla. 33139, U.S.A.
Dear Mr. McGroarty,
Attached are the full length and a short form of the Proclamation of the Second Session
of the Great National Assembly of the Moldavian Republic of December 16, 1990 of
Chişinău, in which over 800,000 Moldavians took part.
I urge you to read it and to do all you can to support the Moldavians in their struggle
for freedom and independence.
Miami Beach, Florida
February 13, 1991
Sincerely Traian John Golea yours,
Highlights from the
PROCLAMATION
OF THE SECOND SESSION OF THE GREAT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF
MOLDAVIA
Kishinev, December 16, 1990
Participants: over 800,000 Moldavians
The Second Session of the Great National Assembly of all Romanians of Bessarabia,
Transnistria and Northern Bucovina, having convened at a crucial moment in the history
[of Moldavia], finds the following:
A direct outcome of the 1940 act of aggression is the presence on the Moldavian national
territory of the occupying army, of the communist party of the Soviet Union, and of its
secret police, the KGB, active even today to ensure the soviet imperialistic domination.
The empire's ruling regime is using a new treaty of union to try to maintain the captive
nations as mere component parts of a state that is prevalently monolithic and totalitarian.
Faced with the immediate danger of a total annihilation of the very national existence of
the Romanians in the occupied territories, reasserting the people's perennial desire for
freedom and independence, and in accordance with the universally recognized right of
the nations to self determination,
THE GREAT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
proclaims:
- The national independence of the Romanians in the occupied territories and the
granting to the entire Romanian nation the right to defend and guarantee that
independence using all available means;
- Signing any treaty of union with an empire would confer a semblance of legality to the
act of occupation of June 28, 1940 There is absolutely no legal evidence that could bear
witness to our desire to become part of the U.S.S.R. Having been engulfed into the
U.S.S.R. against our free will, [we] the people of the Romanian occupied territories have no
obligation to the soviet state;
- The future of the Romanian occupied territories should be decided only by the
Romanian nation in its entirety, that nation being the unique entity to which international
2
law applies, and that nation being the bearer of the unalterable and inalienable right to
decide its own fate without external intervention;
- The participation of the Moldavian Republic's deputies in the Assembly of Deputies
and Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. has in the present circumstances no juridical validity
and no moral justification;
- Faithful to its striving for national unity and independence, our nation once more
reasserts its desire for peaceful coexistence and cooperation with the citizens of other
national extraction, granting them all rights for the free development of their ethnic,
cultural, and religious life [....].
- Our nation's progress toward democracy and independence cannot be conceived
without the guarantee of all universally acknowledged basic human rights;
- No state and no party or political body has a right to instigate the citizens of
Moldavia to perpetrate acts of treason against their nation. Hence the continued activity
on Romanian territory of the structures of the occupying power such as the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union and the KGB, the soviet secret police, a.s.o., is in disagreement
with the best interests and the aspirations of [the Moldavian] people. The Great National
Assembly demands that those foreign structures be legally banned and their property be
nationalized;
- The right of nations to decide their own fate is unlimited and indivisible. The
Moldavian people has claimed that right by embarking upon a national liberation
movement that cannot be stopped either by unfavorable political circumstances or by the
arbitrary dictates of the leaders of the U.S.S.R. The attempts of those leaders at using the
army to suppress the national liberation movement is a crime against our nation
Kishinev, December 16, 1990
The Great National Assembly of Moldavia
PROCLAMATION
of the Second Session of the Great National Assembly
(final document)
The Second Session of the Great National Assembly of all Romanians of
Bessarabia, Transnistria and Northern Bucovina, having convened at a crucial moment
in our people's history, finds the following:
After the First Session of the Great National Assembly of August 27, 1989
which marked the beginning of the national liberation process of the Romanians of
Bessarabia and Bucovina, the soviet imperialistic forces escalated their hostilities and
pushed to its limits the state of oppression in which our people has languished during
the past fifty years of foreign occupation.
In order to salvage its dominance, that last colonial empire on the globe is
ready to shatter the future of the Romanians of the occupied territories, compelling
them to sign a treaty of union, in order to give a semblance of legality to the actual
occupation that took place on June 29, 1940.
The Romanian lands of Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina have always been
integral parts of the Moldavian State, that emerged in the 14th century on the
territories of the Getae and of the Dacians, who are the ancestors of the Romanians.
In 1775 the Hapsburg Empire wrenched from the Moldavian State its northern
area, Bucovina, with the tacit agreement of the Russian Emperor.
After the war between Russia and Turkey which raged from 1806 to 1812,
and after prolonged diplomatic encounters, the Russian Empire managed to dismantle
the Moldavian State through the Peace Treaty of Bucharest (1812), seizing the area
between the rivers Prut and Nistru to which they gave the artificial name of
Bessarabia.
An outcome of the collapse of the Russian and of the Austro-Hungarian
Empires after World War I was the fact that Bessarabia and Bucovina were able to
use their natural and legitimate right to self-determination. On December 2, 1917 the
Democratic Republic of Moldavia was created. After the Ukraine declared herself an
independent republic, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldavia - called the Land
Council - declared on January 24, 1918 the independence of the Democratic
Republic of Moldavia. On March 27 in the same year, the Land Council voted that
Bessarabia be united with the motherland, Romania -- thus implementing the will of
the people and making use of its historical and national rights. The National
Assembly of Bucovina also voted on November 28, 1918 the unconditional and
permanent union of Bucovina within her ancient boundaries which extend between
the rivers Ceremus, Colacin and Nistru, to the Romanian motherland.
The implementation of the national and administrative unity of the Romanian
people on December 1, 1918 fulfilled its perennial dream. As a result of the act of
union of 1918, the Romanians east of the river Prut and those of Bucovina preserved
their national existence and became an integral part of the life of our nation.
The Romanians of Transnistria, who had been the victims of the oppression
exerted by the tsarist régime as early as the end of the 18th century, were the first
to suffer during the twenties and the forties the oppression, the deportations, the
state-organized starvation, the intensive process of denationalization carried on by
the soviet dictatorship. Tens of thousands of rural workers and of educated people,
unable to endure the horrors of bolshevism any longer, escaped to the right bank of
the Nistru, to their Romanian brothers.
1
The imperialist forces, inimical to our nation, were not ready to accept the loss
of their former colonies and carried on their policy of expansion and annexation.
After the Stalin-Hitler pact of August 23, 1939, after a series of ultimatums
forwarded by the soviet government to Romania on June 26 and 28, 1940, based
on specious argumentation and on the support of fascist states, the U.S.S.R.
occupied on June 28, 1940 the Romanian lands of Bessarabia and Northern
Bucovina, under the threat of military action against the population.
Thus the Soviet Union perpetrated an act of aggression against Romania,
flagrantly infringing her independence and her territorial integrity, and breaking the
Briand-Kellog Pact of renouncing war it had signed on August 28, 1928 at Paris, and
also breaking the agreement between the Soviet Union, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and
Romania it had signed on February 9, 1929.
According to international law, the occupation of foreign territories through
acts of aggression must be void ab initio (from the very beginning).
Then followed the dismantling of the occupied territories through the arbitrary
and dictatorial decisions of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. of August 2, 1940,
and of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of November 4 of the same year,
according to which the South of Bessarabia, the County of Hotin, Northern Bucovina,
and the greater part of Transnistria were ripped apart and engulfed into the Ukraine.
However, dismembering the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldavia in that manner in
1940 does not change the status of occupied territories that has been and continues
to be that of Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina in the light of international law.
Following that 1940 act of aggression and occupation, approximately one
million Romanians from Bessarabia and Bucovina fled, crossing the river Prut into
Romania. In the summer of that year, the régime of the occupiers destroyed the best
among our citizens who could not escape.
The Christian Orthodox Church of Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina, who had
over two million members, was wrenched from its proper place against the will of
its members, of its clergy, and of its Holy Synod, and subjected to a foreign church
authority located over one thousand kilometers away.
The reprisals of 1944-45, the state-organized starvation of 1946-47, the mass
deportations of 1949-53 killed off more hundreds of thousands of people. In the
name of the "struggle against nationalism and antisoviet feelings", the reprisals never
stopped between 1950 and 1990, and are still continuing in some areas of the
grievously martyred and misappropriated land of Moldavia.
The massive dislocation and replacement of the population, the suppression
and destruction of the national culture, and the policy of imperialistic dictatorship
brought upon Moldavia the danger of another territorial fragmentation, jeopardizing
our very national existence. In this manner the soviet state is guilty of one more
crime in international law, namely of genocide.
For 50 years the U.S.S.R. has pursued a policy of physical and spiritual
annihilation of our people, using to that end the structures set up after the act of
occupation, and first and foremost through the communist party and the soviet
secret police, the KGB, implanted here on our national territory. The Russian
Orthodox Church, as a docile handmaid of the communist state, also pursued a
policy of spiritual genocide against the Romanian population under soviet occupation.
The occupying power recruited for those structures local residents and made
them betray their own people. Those structures of the occupying power are still
unrestrained and active on our territory, and are working against our national
liberation.
At the basis of the physical and spiritual destruction of our people lies the
communist ideology, which is alien to the nature, the interests, and the aspirations
2
of the Romanians. In 1940 the communist system ripped apart our nation; today it
carries on the same policy but wears the mask of pluralism and of the agreement
between the torturer and his victim; it brings about new acts of dismemberment and
tries to force us again in the deadly embrace of the totalitarian soviet state. That
system endeavors to keep us victims of the absurd bolshevist ideology, and
continues issuing a series of presidential decrees proclaiming the inviolability of the
monuments and memorials of the leader of the 1917 coup d'état.
A direct outcome of the 1940 act of aggression is the presence on our
national territory of the occupying army, of the communist party of the Soviet Union,
and of its secret police, the KGB, active even today to ensure the soviet imperialistic
domination. The direct participation of these forces in the recent acts of
dismemberment of the Moldavian land is one more proof of their true function. The
soviet army has ground down and continues to grind down the bodies and souls of
our young people, sending them to their death to promote foreign interests.
The unlawful and inhuman face of the U.S.S.R. is also revealed by the way
that state openly flouts international law and all human values. Overcome by the
process of its dissolution, that empire attempts to stifle the national liberation
movements, and to impede the inevitable process of de-colonization that has begun
in the occupied territories, -- by openly threatening the states that have declared their
independence, by bringing about their dismemberment, by ignoring the right of
nations to self-determination, by applying economic embargoes, and by using direct
military intervention. It is along those lines that the soviet empire attempts to make
us sign a treaty of union, promising in exchange to spare our land that it occupies
from the further fragmentation it contemplates for us, using the time-honored
principle of "divide et impera" among the various ethnic groups.
The empire's ruling régime is using this new treaty of union to try to maintain
the captive nations as mere component parts of a state that is prevalently monolithic
and totalitarian.
Faced with the immediate danger of the total annihilation of the very national
existence of the Romanians in the occupied territories, reasserting our people's
perennial desire for freedom and independence, in the spirit of the United Nations
Organization's Declaration regarding the granting of independence to colonial
countries and peoples, and in accordance with the universally recognized right of the
nations to self-determination,
THE GREAT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
proclaims:
The national independence of the Romanians in the occupied territories and
the granting to the entire Romanian nation the right to defend and guarantee that
independence using all available means;
Signing any treaty of union with an empire would confer a semblance of
legality to the act of occupation of June 28, 1940 and to the situation that resulted
from it. There is absolutely no legal evidence that could bear witness to our desire
to become part of the U.S.S.R. Having been engulfed into the U.S.S.R. against our
free will, we the people of the Romanian occupied territories have no obligation to
the soviet state;
The train of events that evolve in the Romanian occupied territories is a
national liberation movement directed against colonialism and against imperialism;
The future of the Romanian occupied territories should be decided only by
the Romanian nation in its entirety, that nation being the unique entity to which
3
international law applies, and that nation being the bearer of the unalterable and
inalienable right to decide its own fate without external intervention;
O The Moldavian Republic's participation, either through a state organ, or
through a juridical body delegated by a state organ, in the drawing up or the
concluding of a treaty of imperialistic union, will constitute an act of betrayal of our
nation's interests and aspirations to unity and independence; should such an act of
betrayal be perpetrated, the representatives' subsequent participation in the supreme
organ of state power of the Moldavian Republic would be tantamount to their
complicity in the betrayal; any kind of pressure exerted upon state organs (or upon
juridical bodies delegated by state organs) in order to oblige them to perpetrate an
act of betrayal of their nation cannot justify an act of betrayal; any deviation from
this principle will be described as an act of facilitating the foreign occupation and of
submitting our nation to the rule of a foreign power. It is at the same time absolutely
necessary to speed up the signing of bilateral treaties and agreements of cooperation
in all fields with the states and nations who have proclaimed their sovereignty and
their independence;
The participation of the Moldavian Republic's deputies in the Assembly of
Deputies and Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. has in the present circumstances no
juridical validity and no moral justification;
The lack of preparedness or the insufficient preparedness in the political,
economic, and social fields, or in the field of education, may never be used as a
pretext to postpone independence;
Faithful to its striving for national unity and independence, our nation once
more reasserts its desire for peaceful coexistence and cooperation with the citizens
of other national extraction, granting them all' rights for the free development of their
ethnic, cultural, and religious life, according to the norms of international law and to
the country's laws;
The religious reintegration of the Romanian nation is imperative at this time;
Our nation's progress toward democracy and independence cannot be
conceived without the guarantee of all universally acknowledged basic human rights;
No state and no party or political body has a right to instigate the citizens
of Moldavia to perpetrate acts of treason against their nation. Hence the continued
activity on Romanian territory of the structures of the occupying power such as the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the KGB, the soviet secret police, a. S. o.,
is in disagreement with the best interests and the aspirations of our people. The
Great National Assembly demands that those foreign structures be legally banned
and their property be nationalized;
O
Maintaining a host of monuments and other insignia that tend to perpetuate
at all costs the memory of the proponents of the bankrupt communist ideology who
are guilty of physical and of cultural genocide, such as Marx, Engels, Lenin, and
others like them, is incompatible with the further development of human society
toward democracy and progress;
O
The right of nations to decide their own fate is unlimited and indivisible.
Our people has claimed that right by embarking upon a national liberation movement
that cannot be stopped either by unfavorable political circumstances or by the
arbitrary dictates of the leaders of the U.S.S.R. The attempts of those leaders at
using the army to suppress the national liberation movement is a crime against our
nation and at the same time a crime against the soldiers who are the unwilling slaves
of imperialistic policy. Our people will defend its independence by all means,
including open resistance, in agreement with the acknowledged norms of
international law that apply to the nations that are struggling for their national
liberation against colonialism and imperialism;
4
The process of recovering national independence cannot take place while
the soviet army is in our land. The Great National Assembly demands that the troops
of the Ministry of Defense of the U.S.S.R. be withdrawn from Moldavian territory.
Until that problem is solved, it is necessary to refrain from any acts that could hurt
the dignity and the human rights of military personnel and their families. Such acts
would be nothing but an instigation that could jeopardize the life of the military
personnel and their families on the one hand, and our people's security on the other.
At the same time, the Great National Assembly finds that the Government of
Moldavia cannot commit itself to satisfying the material and social needs of the hosts
of soviet military personnel, over whom it has no sort of control. The Great National
Assembly demands the termination of the military commissariats of the Ministry of
Defence of the U.S.S.R. on the territory of the Moldavian Republic, and replacing
them with the recruitment of our own young people in the National Guard and in
the, police force. Withdrawing the units of soviet troops from the territory of the
Moldavian Republic and terminating the activity of the military commissariats of the
Ministry of Defense of the U.S.S.R. would be the first and the most powerful proof
that today's leaders of the U.S.S.R. observe the Declaration of Sovereignty adopted
by the Supreme Soviet of the Moldavian Republic, according to which Moldavia is
a nonmilitary zone.
*
*
*
In accordance with the United Nations Organization's Declaration regarding the
granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples, the Great National
Assembly of Chişinău proclaims the need to immediately and unconditionally put an
end to soviet colonialism in all its forms and activities. The Soviet State, who also
signed that declaration, must grant immediately to the peoples of its own colonies
their independence.
To preserve peace and stability in this part of Europe, the Great National
Assembly of Chişinău launches an appeal:
O To the United Nations Organization's Committee of Decolonization, urging
it to fulfill its mission with respect to us too and find the best means to speed up
the implementation of its Declaration; also urging it to take concrete steps to that
end, based on which the United Nations General Assembly could adopt a resolution
regarding soviet colonialism and especially regarding the problem of the occupation
by force of the Romanian territories;
To the governments and states of the world, to the United Nations
Organization, and to other international bodies, urging them to recognize the status
of occupied territory for Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina, with all the juridical and
political consequences foreseen in international law;
To all participants in all movements of national liberation within the Soviet
Union, urging them to unite themselves immediately in an Alliance for the national
liberation of the captive nations of the Soviet empire.
*
*
*
Only a complete, deliberate and scrupulous implementation of the national
independence of our people will set up an environment in which it will be possible
to eradicate the consequences of the foreign occupation, and do away with the
injustice that was done to us on our land for centuries. It is only in this way that it
will be possible to achieve a climate favorable to the peaceful and harmonious
coexistence of all citizens, regardless of nationality and religious creed, in this land.
5
This difficult and heroic moment arrived through the inexorable, cast-iron
process of history. It requires of us that we be fully aware of the magnitude of the
difficulties it brought before us, and that, guided by the light of our own conscience,
we proceed to solve them for the sake of our children, of our grandchildren, and of
those to come after them.
CHISINAU, THE GREAT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SQUARE,
DECEMBER 16, 1990
passed by the vote of the approximately 800,000
participants in the Great National Assembly
Translated and Distributed in the Free World
by
ROMANIAN HISTORICAL STUDIES
Traian Golea
1029 Euclid Avenue
MIAMI BEACH, FLA. 33139
6
Copy speechenities Db -
THE WHITE HOUSE January 5,1991
Dear Mr. Tanger -
January 3RD was indeed a great day for
Massachusetts. When Bill Weld and Paul Celluces
took their oaths of office hope and optimism
took hold in the Bay State.
Thank you for FAXing a copy of your
poem "In Honor of Desert Shield." I will
make sure the appropriate people here see it.
Happy New year!
Sincerely,
Andy Card
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Mr. Woody Tanger
President t CEO
Marlin Broadcastin, Inc.
32 Faifield Steet
Boston, Massachusetts
02116
TANGER PROPERTIES
TEL No.617-421-9885
Jan 3,91 15:21 No.009 P.02
AC HAS SEEN
Marlin Broadcasting, Inc.
WTMI FM Miami
Howard P. Tanger
President & Chief Executive Officer
WQRS FM Detroit
WFLN FM Philadelphia
January 3, 1991
VIA FAX
Mr. Andrew Card
Assistant to the President
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. Card:
It's a great day in Massachusetts today!
As you can see from the enclosed letter, the Defense
Department is forwarding my poem to the American Forces
Information Service.
I talked with Mr. Kalinger today and he stongly suggested
that President Bush might be able to use it.
Enclosed is the poem and Mr. Kalinger's letter.
The poem was published in the Boston Globe and response has
been very positive and exciting.
I hope you can use it!
Sincerely yours,
Woody Tanger
w/enclosures
HPT/ee
Affiliated with: Tanger Properties, Inc.
32 Fairfield Street Boston, MA 02116 (617) 267-0515
TANGER PROPERTIES
TEL No. .617-421-9885
Jan 3,91 15:21 No.009 P.03
ok to use
1/3/91
Boston Grose
IN HONOR OF DESERT SHIELD
Footsteps cut by our soulmates in sand
are windswept reminders of America's gentle hand.
Years hence these faraway sands will reclaim
all that we give and maybe give it no name.
America transmits a world circling sunrise
whose glow now guides us thru empty night skies.
Our Shield of Peace is steeled in parchment,
strong as our Declaration to be forever independent.
This desert holds in its' palm America's finest
whose loved ones suffer long nights without rest.
Like Armstrong's brave moonsteps of grace
we, too, landed in peace to flag our "Tranquility Base."
Sadly, if we must turn our Shield into sword
then know we came NOT to kill and count how we scored,
for though we are sand-soaked in desert disguise
those of goodwill see peace shines in our eyes.
This desert mission was never ordained
for we'd rather be home on our fruited plain,
not crawling in sandy fields of the insane
risking life and drilling deep inner pain.
We come in peace and pray our leaving is that way
and know the awful price of granting Evil its' day.
Only our footsteps can these desert winds claim
and never never America's honored name.
WOODY TANGER
32 FAIRFIELD STREET
BOSTON, MA 02116
all rights reserved, 1990
TANGER PROPERTIES
TEL No.617-421-9885
Jan 3,91 15:21 No.009 P.04
STATE MENT 111 INDUSTRY
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
WASHINGTON. D.C. 20301-1400
STATE STATES ... DATE
PUBLIC AFF AIRS
DEC 27 1990
Howard P. Tanger
President and Chief Executive Officer
Marlin Broadcasting, Inc.
32 Fairfield Street
Boston, MA 02116
Dear Mr. Tanger:
Thank you for your letter of December 13, 1990, to Secretary
Cheney regarding your poem, "In Honor of Desert Shield."
Although I cannot guarantee that Secretary Cheney will be
able to use or refer to your poem in his public statements, you
may be certain that he greatly appreciates your kind words of
support and the sentiments which moved you to poetry. As he has
noted, the decision to put young men and women at risk has always
been one of the most difficult our Nation can make. In the end,
our armed forces belong to the American people. When our ser-
vicemembers and their families hear messages such as yours, they
know their contributions to America are not being ignored or
bear. forgotten, and that can make their burdens a little easier to
I have taken the liberty of forwarding copies of your poem to
my colleagues at the American Forces Information Service, which
distributes a variety of information to our servicemembers, and
to the Secretary's speechwriting staff.
Sincerely,
Danied J Kalinge
Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense
JUL 26
Dear Mrs. Johnson:
Through my assistant, Jim Cicconi, I have received
your letter of June 18th. Thanks so much for your
warm words of support.
Regarding your comments about Terry Anderson and the
Americans being held hostage in Lebanon, let me assure
you that I share your concern and that I will continue
to work for the expeditious and unconditional release
of Americans who are being held against their will.
Let me also tell you how deeply moved I was to read
your account of the incident you witnessed during the
Civil Rights struggles in 1965. Like you, I was both
saddened and outraged by the injustices suffered by
many Black Americans during those turbulent days. Far
too many events of that time left us with unforgettable
images of the destructive power of bigotry and hatred.
I am sure that the memory of that incident in
Georgia -- a policeman seizing a small boy's flag for
no apparent reason -- has remained painfully vivid
for many Americans.
Because we may never know who that youngster was, we
may never be able to replace the flag so unjustly taken
from him. However, we can restore -- and, in many
ways, we have already restored -- something far more
important: what that flag represents. Since 1965,
various judicial decisions and the enactment of a
number of important civil rights laws have enabled the
United States to make great progress in our efforts to
guarantee equality of opportunity and equal protection
under the law for all Americans.
2
Strong arms might be able to snatch a symbol of hope
from a child's hands; but as history has shown us time
and again, no amount of force can ever extinguish the
just aspirations of the human heart. Neither could any
force quell our determination to fulfill this country's
promise of "liberty and justice for all."
I commend you for your attempts to rectify an injustice
and for your devotion to the principles of freedom,
equality, and fairness.
Barbara joins me in sending our appreciation and warm
best wishes.
Sincerely,
GEORGE BUSH
Mrs. Nita Johnson
Post Office Box 1094
Pollock Pines, California 95726
GB/TD/SMG/jt (7PRESJ)
CC:- Jim Cicconi (w/copy of inc.) for Chriss Winston
Theresa Donovan, Rm 94
CLEAR WITH COUNSEL
PRESIDENT TO SIGN
30 JUN A8: 51
+
June 18, 1990
President and Mrs. George Bush
The White House
Washington, D. C. 20001
Dear President and Mrs. Bush,
First, I want to thank you both for the wonderful inspir-
ation you are to all Americans. Your loving concern for all
of us, is living proof of how we can achieve "a gentler,
kinder, America." I especially enjoyed your televised
"tour of the White House.' It was as though you invited us in
for a personal visit with you.
Next, I wish to express my concern for Terry Anderson, and
our other hostages in Beruit, for whom I continue to pray,
and wear a yellow ribbon, until they are all safely home.
Please, Mr. Bush, do whatever you can to obtain his release
as soon as possible. After five years of imprisonment, we
cannot allow him to languish without hope, don't you agree?
Finally, I want to bring to your attention "a point of light"
which only you can ignite, President Bush.
OUR NATION OWES AN UNKNOWN SIX-YEAR-OLD BLACK BOY AN AMERICAN
FLAG!
Allow me to explain. This incident occured on 6/20/65 in
Georgia, during the Civil Rights struggle, which I, and the
rest of the nation, viewed on a late-night televison news-
cast. A burly policeman forcibly seized an American flag
from a little six-year-old black boy, actually yanking the
boy about a foot off the ground, to get the flag, for no
apparent reason, as the boy and his mother were just watching
the Civil Rights marchers. The child and his mother were
shoved into a police wagon and carted off to jail! All the
while the little boy continually cried, "You can't do that!"
And he was right! The officer had no right to forcibly seize
the flag from the boy, and as a concerned American mother, I
was incensed! I immediately wrote to President Johnson
demanding the flag be returned to the little boy, but got no
satisfaction.
-2-
I have wirtten every President about this incident, since it
occured.
It is now five Presidents, and twenty-five years, later and
the child has become a thirty-one-year-old man.
I will not be put-off in my crusade to have this injustice
corrected. Perhaps you and Mrs. Bush saw the telecast and
were just as outraged.
Like you, President Bush, I believe we can be "kinder and
gentler", and this is a perfect opportunity of how we can do
just that.
I implore you, as President, to return an American flag, by
proxy, because of the young man's unknown identity, to any
six-year-old black boy. You may be sure that throughout the
years I have tried, through the televison and press media, to
discover the boy's identity, but was unsuccessful in that
endeavor. What matters is that HE knows who he is.
By publicizing the incident on televison, you can resolve the
injustice right there and then. Chances are, you may receive
a note of thanks from the young man.
You will be proving, once and for all, that we, as caring
American citizens, will not tolerate a cruel and hateful
action towards anyone's civil or religious rights, or pride
in his flag and in his country, especially towards a child,
who is one of our most precious "points of light."
I'm counting on your compassion, President Bush, and your
reputation of resolving difficult and sensitive situations.
May the God, in Whom this great nation was founded upon, and
in Whom it continues to trust, be your constant guide, and
bless you always.
In His Love,
mrs Nita Johnson
Mrs. Nita Johnson
P.O. Box 1094
Pollock Pines, CA 95726
+30 JUN 25 A8: 51
June 18, 1990
Mr. James A. Cicconi
Secretary to President Bush
The White House
Washington, D. C. 20001
Dear Mr. Cicconi,
Hope this finds you well and not working too hard.
Forgive me for entering your office this way, but because
you are President Bush's secretary, I need to ask you a
favor.
I realize that all of the President's mail is reviewed in the
White House mail-room, and because of the volumes of mail re-
ceived, only "selected" mail is forwarded to him.
However, because I sincerely believe that President Bush will
be quite interested in what I have to say in my letter, I
have enclosed it with this letter to you. Since you have such
direct contact with Pres. Bush, may I ask you to see that he
receives it?
Please forgive this imposition, Mr. Cicconi, but I'm sure
after you read my letter, you will be convinced of its urgen-
cy. I shall be most grateful to you, and appreciative of your
sensitivity and compassion. Also it will be most reassuring
to know that the President is surrounded by people who are
shining examples of a "kinder, gentler America."
May the peace and joy of the Lord be with you always.
In His Love,
neta Johnson
Mrs. Nita Johnson
P.O. Box 1094
Pollock Pines, CA 95726