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The original documents are located in Box D14, folder "House Speech Ukrainian
Independence, January 24, 1955" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and
Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D14 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File
at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
Facts About Ukraine
BALTIC
SEA
MOSCOW
RUSSIA
BYELORUSSIA
A Д ASIA
POLAND
KIEV
KHARKIV
LVIV
ZECHO-
UKRAINE
SLOVAKIA
HUNGARY
ODESSA
RUMANIA
OKATERYNODAR
UKRAINE(USSR)
CAUCASUS CASPIAN SEA
KALMYK
-
PRESENT
BOUNDARIES
BLACK SEA
UKRAINIAN
ASIA
ETHNOGRAFIC
TERRITORY
PAN AMERICAN UKRAINIAN CONFERENCE
NEW YORK
1950
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
importance is Ukraine's machine-building, heavy, and light industries, its giant
Facts About Ukraine
hydro-electric power plant, Dniprelstan, and its oil wells in Galicia. The rail-
roads of Ukraine are the most developed in the whole USSR.
The industrial potential of the country is much greater, since it cannot
be fully developed under the present imperialist policy of the USSR which, for
Ukraine, a member of the United Nations is the largest non-Russian
purely strategic reasons, favors the building up of Asiatic regions to the dis-
country under the domination of the Kremlin. The Ukrainians were the first
advantage of Ukraine.
people to see their country occupied by Red troops in 1920, after a long and
Ukraine, still known as "the granary of Europe," has become the bread-
determined resistence to the Red regime.
basket and sugar-bowl of Stalin's Empire. Its agricultural production, not fully
Today, after thirty years of subjection to communist rule, Ukraine once
developed because of the erratic methods used in Soviet agriculture, is still
more claims the right to be heard by the free world. Let the facts about Ukraine
one of the highest in the world. In sugar-beet alone it amounts to 70%, and in
speak for themselves.
grains to 21% of the total output of the USSR. In spite of severe livestock
losses due to forced collectivization, the number of hogs in Ukraine constitutes
TERRITORY
31.3% of the USSR's total.
Geographically, Ukraine represents an area of over 250,000 sq. miles.
Ukrainian peasants, who today represent 75% of the total population,
Ukrainian ethnographical territory stretches from the Carpathians in the west
belong to the most individualist and anti-communist elements in the USSR.
to the river Don and the foothills of the Caucasus in the east. Touching Central
Unlike the Russian peasantry, they never lived under the Tsarist "commune"
system of land tenure, and they resisted heroically the forced collectivization of
Europe in the west and the threshold of Asia in the east, it spreads far beyond
their land by the Soviets.
the frontiers of the present Ukrainian SSR which compromises only 227,000 sq.
miles. There are large Ukrainian settlements in Soviet-Asia and in the Soviet
The industriousness of all classes of the Ukrainian people, their long record
of resistance to Red imperialism, their deep love of their own country as well
Far Eastern territory.
as their ancient bonds with the culture and way of life of Western Europe leave
In the west Ukraine borders on Rumania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and
no doubt about their role in the future history of Europe and the world. They
Poland, to the north on Byelorussia and Russia, to the east on Russia, and the
represent one of the greatest forces ready to take part in the creation of a dem-
lands of the Kalmyks and the peoples of the Caucasus. In the south she has
ocratic world order, once they are liberated from their Red oppressors and are
access to the Mediterranean, from her long and well-developed coast on the
free to create their own destiny as an independent nation.
Black Sea. Ukraine's capital is Kiev which lies on the largest Ukrainian river,
the Dnieper.
UKRAINIAN STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
POPULATION
The Russian Empire collapsed in 1917. While in Russia the Provisional
According to 1940 figures, the population of the Ukrainian SSR was over
Government and later the Bolsheviks were the creators of a new revolutionary
40 million, 80% of it being Ukrainian. The density of population was given as
regime, in Ukraine a national revolution was in progress.
103 per sq. mile. Over 5 million Ukrainians live in the Soviet Central Asia, the
This came as a surprise to the Russian communists. It was clear that the
Far Eastern territory and the Russian SFSR, and millions are in Soviet Forced
Ukrainians, who for centuries had been desperately fighting against the Russian
Labor Camps. The total Ukrainian population of the USSR may be estimated at
domination over their country, had taken the chance which history gave them
40 million.
in 1917 and were forming a Ukrainian National Republic.
The date for the first meeting of the Ukrainian Constituent Assembly was
NATURAL AND INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES
fixed for January 1918. This act coupled with the disarmament of the Bolsheviks
in Ukraine, was regarded as a challenge by the Bolshevik government, which
Ukraine is one of Europe's richest and industrially most developed coun-
consequently declared war on Ukraine. In order, however, to deceive the outside
tries. Its industrial might can be seen from the following figures for 1940:
world and to create the impression that they were not aggressors, the Bolshe-
viks set up a puppet Soviet-Ukrainian government in Kharkiv and in this way
mill. tons
% of USSR output
found justification to invade Ukraine in the name of this Moscow-created
Iron ore
19
60
pseudo-government which did not represent the Ukrainian people.
Manganese ore
1
35
The superior forces of the Red Army, under the command of Gen. Mu-
Pig iron
9
60
ravyev invaded Ukraine. The commander as well as his army were Russian,
Steel
8.6
47
not Ukrainian. The Bolsheviks during their occupation of Ukraine found so little
Coal
90
55
sympathy among the Ukrainian population, that they had to use every means in
Coke
17
75
their power to compel the conquered Ukrainians by force to accept the Soviet
rule. It is important to bear in mind that Ukraine was conquered by military
The primary industrial region is that of the Donets Basin, one of the big-
force as well as by the fifth column and that the Ukrainian resisted the occupa-
gest coal and metallurgical production centres of the USSR. Of equally great
tion of their country by the Red Army in every possible way.
The end of the fighting of the Army of the Ukrainian Independent Repub-
lic was marked by the well-known "Winter Campain" of 1921.
The first years of the new Soviet regime in Ukraine were marked by ruth-
less terror on the part of the occupying troops. Ukraine was virtually under the
Russian military rule. This is how Ukraine became Soviet Ukraine!
RED REGIME IN UKRAINE
In spite of the military victory, the Soviets had to face serious difficulties in
governing Ukraine. Those Ukrainian communists-the fifth column-who gave
them their support, hoping for an autonomous Soviet Ukrainian Republic, were
soon dissappointed in their hopes. They were all entirely liquidated in the early
1930s when Ukraine was once again subjected to Red terror. At the time of the
first Five Year Plan and the forced collectivization, the Ukrainian workers,
peasants, and intelligentsia rose united to oppose the Soviet policy. The purges
and large-scale deportations were conducted under the personal supervision of
the highest Party officials-the Russian Postyshev and Kaganovich. It is they
and their Kremlin masters who must be held responsible for the terrible famine
in Ukraine in 1932-33 which took a toll running in millions of lives for the
barbarous destruction of Ukrainian learning, science, and religion, for the per-
secutions of hundreds of thousands of innocent and peace-loving people.
Today, another Communist Party official, a colleague of Mr. Stalin, Dy-
mitri Manuilski is a "representative" of the Ukrainian SSR. His deputies are
present now at Lake Success. The "sovereign" Soviet Republic has found indeed
a suitable "representative" Manuilski, the man who in 1918 sat as a member of
the Russian delegation in negotiations with the Ukrainian Government, has re-
appeared to "represent" a fictitious government which exists only at the con-
venience of Mr. Vyshinsky.
The so-called "representatives" and "government" of the Ukrainian SSR
do not and can not represent the Ukrainian people.
Knowing that our Ukrainian kinsmen, at present citizens of the Ukrainian
Soviet Socialist Republic, are not able to speak freely, we, Americans of Ukrain-
ian origin, raise our voice and ask:
Is Ukraine - formally a member of the United Nations - really an in-
dependent state?
Where are the Ukrainian diplomatic representatives abroad?
Why doesn't Ukraine control her own finances?
Why are Ukrainian priests, peasants, workers, and intellectuals kept in
Soviet concentration camps?
Demand a free Ukrainian representative at the United Nations!
M
Extension of remarks of Rep. Gerald R. Ford, Jr..
Fifth District - Michigan.
January 24, 1955
Speeches
Hofr
Mr. Speaker .
The traditional observance of the proclemation of Ukrainian
Independence (Jantiary 22, 1918) presents an opportunity for American
citizens to assure to all escapees from tyranny scattered throughout
the world their sympathy, and their determination to continue the struggle
for the freedom of all people.
This America believes: "That all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." This
applies to men both behind and outside the Iron Curtain.
We hear much of "peaceful co-existence" today. Everyone of us
wants peace. To be realistic we must recognize that we do exist in a
world divided into two great idealogical camps. And we can hardly demand
that every people and every nation adopt our form of government or our way
of life. Yet, we must strive in every legitimate way to assist those who
would bring freedom to nations enslaved, or to peoples oppressed.
There are those who say that the internal rule of the Communists is
none of our concern. To a displaced person this must have in strange sound.
Furthermore, that attitude cannot be defended if we understand the funda-
mental philosophies of democracy and communism. If democracy means any-
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
Extension of remarks of Rep. Gerald Re Ford,Jr. - Page 2
thing, it means a firm faith in the inherent infinite worth of the
individual, in the innate dignity of the human being. If 10 honestly
believe this, we will not be satisfied until the worth and dignity of
every human being in the world is recognized, and that human being is
permitted to live and act freely.
This is not to advocate preventive war nor rash and unintelligent
action, but it is to warn all despets that we will continue to strive for
justice and decency for all mankind.
There are good and noble people in my District who dream of the
day when their captive homelands will be free again. They are working
and preparing for that day. Such men were Thomas Masaryk of Ozechosle-
vakia, and Sygmund Rhee of Korea. To these good people and all like them
we pledge our help and our cooperation in securing a body of free nations
in a free world.
GERALD FORD,
Extension of remarks of Rep. Gerald R. Ford, Type
Fifth District - Michigan.
January 24. 1955
Mr. Speaker .
The traditional observance of the proclemation of Ukreinden
Independence (January 22, 1918) presents on opportunity for American
citizens to assure to all escapees from tyranny scattered throughout
the world their sympathy, and their determination to continue the struggle
for the freedom of all people.
This America believes: "That all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." This
applies to men both behind and outside the Iron Curtain.
We hear much of "peaceful co-existence" today. Everyone of us
wants peace. To be realistic we must recognize that ve do exist in a
world divided into two great idealogical comps. And we can hardly demand
that every people and every nation adopt our form of government or our way
of life. Yet, we must strive in every legitimate way to assist those who
would bring freedom to nations enslaved, or to peoples oppressed.
There are those who say that the internal rule of the Commists is
none of our concern. To a displaced person this must have a strange sound.
Furthermore, that attitude cannot be defended if 1/0 understand the funda-
mental philosophies of democracy and communism. If democracy means any-
RALD GERAUD 1868817 FORD
Extension of remarks of Rep. Gerald Re Ford,Jr. . Page 2
thing. it means a firm faith in the inherent infinite worth of the
individual, in the innate dignity of the human being. If we honestly
believe this, 1/0 will not be satisfied until the worth and dignity of
every human being in the world is recognized. and that human being is
permitted to live and act freely.
This is not to advocate preventive war nor rash and unintelligent
action, but it is to varn all despets that we will continue to strive for
justice and decency for all mankind.
There are good and noble people in my District who dream of the
day when their captive homelands will be free again. They are working
and preparing for that day. Such men were Thomas Masaryk of Oxechosle-
vakia, and Sygmind Rhee of Korea. To these good people and all like them
w pledge our help and our cooperation in securing & body of free nations
in a free world.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
Mkrainian Congress Committee of America, Inc.
PUBLICATIONS: "THE UKRAINIAN QUARTERLY" & "THE UKRAINIAN BULLETIN"
302 WEST 13th STREET, NEW YORK 14, N. Y.
Telephone: WAtkins 4-5617
President
PROF. LEV. E. DOBRIANSKY
Georgetown University
Washington, D. C.
January 18, 1955
Vice Presidents
DMYTRO HALYCHYN
New York, N. Y.
THEODORE MYNYK
Scranton, Pa.
The Honorable G. R. Ford, Jr.
STEPHEN SPRYNSKY
Philadelphia, Pa.
House Office Building
MICHAEL DUTKEWYCH
Washington 25, D.C.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
HELEN F. D. LOTOTSKA
Philadelphia, Pa.
Treasurer
Dear Congressman Ford:
JOSEPH LESAWYER
New York, N. Y.
Secretary
In recent months the vague and confused discussion of
ANTHONY BATTUK
Scranton, Pa.
"peaceful coexistence" has unfortunately bred the erro-
IHNAT BILYNSKY
Phiadelphia, Pa.
neous impression abroad, in the minds of emigres and
Executive Director
STEPHEN J. JAREMA, Esq.
escapees from the enslaved nations and to some degree
New York, N. Y.
behind the Iron Curtain, that we are abandoning the
General Counsel
MICHAEL PIZNAK, Esq.
captive nations of Eastern Europe. This disquieting
New York, N. Y.
Political Policy Board
development has been of grave concern to this committee
PROF. NICHOLAS CHUBATY
Mahwah, N. J.
which is exerting every effort to combat it.
WALTER DANKO
Bayonne, N. J.
WALTER DUSHNYCK
To further this endeavor we plan to utilize the tradi-
Brooklyn, N. Y.
PROF. ALEX. GRANOVSKY
tional observance of the proclamation of Ukrainian Indepen-
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minn.
dence (January 22, 1918) as an occasion for the unending
JAROSLAW HAYWAS
reaffirmation of our active faith in the eventual libera-
New York, N. Y.
ADAM HORDYNSKY
tion of all the enslaved nations in the communist empire.
Newark, N. J.
OMELAN LOGUSH
The perspective of this committee, as consistently reflec-
New York, N. Y.
ted in the testimonies of its representation on such varied
PETRO MATULA
Irvington, N. J.
subjects as the Genocide Convention, the Wherry Resolution,
DR. LUKA MYSHUHA
Jersey City, N. J.
the Mutual Security Act, the House Investigation of Com-
WASYL MUDRY
munist Aggression etc., has always been founded on the
Yonkers, N. Y.
VALENTINE NOVYTSKY
common plight and hopes of all the captive nations in
Brooklyn, N. Y.
WASYL OMELCHENKO
Europe and Asia.
New York, N. Y.
IVAN PALYVODA
New York, N. Y.
Representing ultimately the vital interests of our Nation,
JOHN ROBERTS, Esq.
Brooklyn, N. Y.
you could assist us greatly in this task by issuing a
DR. THEODORE SENDZIK
Trenton, N. J.
short statement in the suggested vein above, on or about
PROF. R. SMAL-STOCKI
January 22, for publication in the Congressional Record.
Marquette University
Milwaukee, Wisc.
Your statement and those of others would then be extracted
WASYL SHABATURA
Pittsburgh, Pa.
by us and assembled for publication in pamphlet form to
MYKOLA SMOLANSKY
distribute abroad and even behind the Iron Curtain. The
Brooklyn, N. Y.
DR. MATWIJ STACHIW
more we obtain, the more impressive our showing.
Scranton, Pa.
MICHAEL VETUKHIV
New York, N. Y.
GEORGE WOLYNETZ, Esq.
Whether or not any of your constituents happen to be of
New York, N. Y.
ancestry related to any of the captive nations, we earnestly
IWAN F. WOWCHUK
New York, N. Y.
believe that your transcendent convictions in the expension
WASYL ZAVITNEWYTCH
New York, N. Y.
of freedom and winning the minds of men will alone determine
EUGENE ZYBLIKEVYTCH
New York, N. Y.
your generous assistance of a private organization dedicating
its resources to these ends. To aid in the preparation of
MEMBER: All-American Conference to Combat Communism - Federation of Americans of Central and East European Descent.
January 18, 1955
Page two
your statement, we are enclosing relevant material containing certain
basic facts about Ukraine which you will doubtlessly find helpful.
With most grateful thanks for your cooperation and best wishes for
a highly constructive session, I am
Sincerely yours,
Lev E. Dobrisualey
Lev E. Dobriansky
Georgetown University
LED:ek
GERALD R.FORD B.
SUMMARY
The centuries-old struggle for freedom and independence on the part
of the Ukrainian nation constitutes an impressive chapter in the annals of human
history. This indomitable will for national freedom clearly crystallized itself
in the old Ukrainian Kievan state from the ninth to the fourteenth century, in
the Ukrainian Kozak state from 1648 to 1783, and more recently in the Ukrainian
National Republic from 1917 to 1920. As one of the first victims of Soviet im-
perialism, Ukraine, since the very inception of alien Bolshevik tyranny, has
proved to be the Achilles Heel of the Soviet Union. The destruction of its
national churches, the horrible man-made famine of 1932-33, the mass murder at
Vinnitsia in 1937-39, and the vast purges and deportations decreed by Moscow
have failed to exterminate the spiritual and moral resources for national free-
dom in Ukraine. The historic capital of Kiev, with centuries of rich tradition and
culture conserved in its vaults, still symbolizes today the indestructible hope
and passion of a nation destined to be sovereign, free and independent.
During the Second World War millions of Ukrainian patriots seized the
short-lived opportunity of the German invasion to realize once again this hope,
only to be frustrated in their valiant efforts by the scourge of another imperial-
ism. But this unbending will continues to be strong and powerful in the epic
struggle of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) against the evil forces of Soviet
imperialism, and in the resistance of the Ukrainian people.
As a nation of over 40 million people - the largest non-Russian nation
behind the European Iron Curtain - Ukraine stands as one of our most important
and natural allies in the eventual defeat of Soviet imperialism. Its historic
claim to national freedom and independence cannot be ignored. Its place as a
sovereign and equal partner in the mutual construction of the free Europe of
tomorrow must be assured, if the foundation of permanent peace among freedom-
loving nations is to be impregnable.
GERALD FORD (IBRART
any
Mr. Speaker:
The traditional observation ance of the proclamation of Ukrainian Independence
(January 22, 1918) presents an opportunity for American citizens to assure to
all escapees from tyranny scattered throughout the world their sympathy, and
their determination to continue the struggle for the freedom of all people.
That
This America believes: A "All men are created equal and endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, Hberty,
and the pursuit of happiness." This applies to men both behind and outside
the Iron Curtain.
We hear much of "peaceful co-existence" today. Everyone of us wants
peace. To be realistic we must recognize that we do exist in a world divided
into two great idealizical camps. And we can hardly demand that every people and every
nation adopt our form of government or our way of life. Yet, we must strive
in every legitmate way to assist those who would bring freedom to nations
enslaved, or to peoples oppressed.
There are those who say that the internal rule of the Com unists is none
of our concern. To a displaced person this must have a strange sound. Further-
more, that attitude cannot be defended if we understand the fundamental philo-
sophies of democracy and Communism. If Democracy means anything, it means a
firm faith in the inherent infinite worth of the individual, in the innate
dignity of the human being. If we honestly believe this, we will not be
satisfied until the worth and dignity of every human being in the world is
recognized, and that human being is permitted to live and act freely.
This is not to advocate preventive war nor rash and unintelligent
action, but it is to warn all despots that we will continue to strive for
justice and decency for all mankind.
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
There are good and noble people in my District who dream of the day
when their captive homelands will be free again. They are working and
preparing for that day. Such men were Thomas Masaryk of Czechoslovakia, and
Sygmund Rhee of Korea. To these good people and all like them we pledge our
help and our cooperation in securing a body of free nations in a free world.
FORD i LIBRAR,
of