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[Page S5752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS
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SENATE RESOLUTION 343--CONGRATULATING THE PEOPLE OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC
AND THE PEOPLE OF THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC ON THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
VELVET REVOLUTION, THE 26TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORMATION OF THE CZECH
REPUBLIC AND THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC, AND THE 101ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Cramer, Mr.
Coons, and Mr. Murphy) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
S. Res. 343
Whereas, on January 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson, in
the ``Fourteen Points'' address to a joint session of
Congress, called for the free ``autonomous development'' of
the peoples of Austria-Hungary;
Whereas the Fourteen Points address became the basis for
the founding of an independent Czech-Slovak nation-state;
Whereas, on September 3, 1918, the United States recognized
the Czecho-Slovak National Council in Paris as a de facto
government at war with the German and Austro-Hungarian
Empires;
Whereas, on October 14, 1918, the Czecho-Slovak National
Council formed a provisional government, which declared
independence from Austria-Hungary on October 18, 1918;
Whereas the peoples of the present day Czech Republic and
the peoples of the present day Slovak Republic proclaimed
independence on October 28, 1918, and October 30, 1918,
respectively, forming the common state of the Republic of
Czechoslovakia;
Whereas, on November 12, 1918, the United States and
Czechoslovakia established formal diplomatic relations;
Whereas the United States never recognized--
(1) the annexation of the Czech Sudetenland by Nazi Germany
in October 1938;
(2) the subsequent establishment of a German protectorate
over Bohemia and Moravia; or
(3) the creation of the German puppet Slovak State in March
1939;
Whereas the Slovak and Czech resistance movements against
the Nazi occupation, with the support of the Czechoslovak
government-in-exile, launched the Slovak National Uprising in
August 1944 and the Prague uprising in May 1945, accelerating
the collapse of the Third Reich and demonstrating the
courage, patriotism, and freedom-loving spirit of the Czech
and Slovak peoples;
Whereas, in February 1948, the Communist Party of
Czechoslovakia seized power from the democratically elected
government of Czechoslovakia;
Whereas, on August 20, 1968, 20 Soviet and Warsaw Pact
military divisions invaded Czechoslovakia in order to crush
the ``Prague Spring'', a period of greater political and
economic liberty that followed the appointment of Alexander
Dubcek as First Secretary of the Czechoslovakian Communist
Party;
Whereas, in the nonviolent Velvet Revolution of November
1989, the peoples of Czechoslovakia overthrew 40 years of
totalitarian communist rule;
Whereas, after the Velvet Revolution, the peoples of
Czechoslovakia established vibrant, pluralistic, democratic
political systems based on freedom of speech, a free press,
free and fair elections, the rule of law, and individual
rights, values embodied by Vaclav Havel, the first president
of Czechoslovakia after the fall of communism in that
country;
Whereas, on January 1, 1993, the Czech Republic and the
Slovak Republic were formally created as independent nation-
states after a peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia;
Whereas the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic joined
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on March 12, 1999, and
March 29, 2004, respectively, and have made significant
contributions to the operations of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization around the world; and
Whereas the peoples of the United States, the Czech
Republic, and the Slovak Republic have forged a special
relationship based on mutual respect, close cooperation, and
the shared values of democracy, the rule of law, economic
liberty, and individual rights and responsibility: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) commends the peoples of the Czech Republic and the
Slovak Republic for their considerable achievements in
building free, democratic, and prosperous societies over the
past 30 years since the fall of communist dictatorship in
Czechoslovakia;
(2) congratulates the peoples of the Czech Republic and the
Slovak Republic on--
(A) the 26th anniversary of the formation of each country;
and
(B) the 101st anniversary of the independence of
Czechoslovakia;
(3) expresses profound gratitude for the sacrifices made by
the people of the Czech Republic and the people of the Slovak
Republic in support of the operations of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization in Afghanistan and elsewhere;
(4) reaffirms the strong historical and cultural ties that
bind the people of the Czech Republic, the people of the
Slovak Republic, and the people of the United States
together; and
(5) expresses the continued commitment of the United States
to a free, peaceful, and prosperous Europe.
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