Of Patriots and Presidents
America’s Polish Diaspora and U.S. Foreign Policy since 1917
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Since the First World War, American Poles, through organisations such as the Polish American Congress, have tried to influence U.S. foreign policy and lobbied Congress for an independent, free Poland. Relations with the U.S. government were not always without tension. It was strained by the “betrayal” of Poland at Yalta in 1945. Presidents and candidates for elected office try to instrumentalise the Polish community as voters. Conversely, the Polish diaspora (Polonia) uses its weight to influence U.S. policy – for example, on Solidarity or NATO accession. Faced with a loss of importance and increasing assimilation, Polonia has to develop a new agenda.
(Osteuropa 1/2011, pp. 63–76)