Talk:Captive Nations Week

Untitled
There's a column in the Views section of FoxNews.com written by Lee Edwards about former U.S. Ambassador Lev E. Dobriansky and Captive Nations Week (see article here) which states that Captive Nations Week has been officially declared for five decades, starting with the Eisenhower administration. This would seem to contradict the Wikipedia article, which says that it started with JFK. I'm going to try doing some digging on this, but if anyone else can point out evidence one way or another, it would be much appreciated.

--Hex 16 17:14, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

Just an update: I've Googled Eisenhower and "Captive Nations Week" and found multiple references to Eisenhower having signed the initial resolution into law (as PUBLIC LAW 86-90 CAPTIVE NATIONS WEEK RESOLUTION) in 1959. One source, the Congress of Russian Americans, lists the text of PL 86-90, which it condemns as racism against Russians, since it fails to list Russia as a captive nation, but mentions "Communist Russia" and "Russian Communism," implying that Russians are to blame for the spread of world Communism.

This is the only listing of the actual text of the law that I could find, but the key point is that the line at the bottom of the text reads "Approved July 17, 1959, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower." This being the case, I believe the Wiki article should be edited to reflect this. I'm still working on the wording, but any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, --Hex 16 18:16, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

Date of initiation
Several sources, including Hixson's Kennan bio and Karal Ann MArling's As Seen on TV, say that the Republican Congress passed legislation on the CNW every year since 1953. Apparently it became permanent law in 1959. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gerling (talk • contribs) 14:55, 3 September 2007 (UTC)