February; 2009
Issue
58
In This
Issue:
*Consul General's message
*Marcus Mabry
*Obama in His Own Words
*Free At Last
*Inauguration
Many of you may have noticed there was an exciting event in Washington this month: the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, on January 20. We had a gathering at the Consulate to watch the day’s ceremony, and it was fascinating to hear our Polish friends’ perspectives on the day. President Obama has described his plans and proposals on the newly designed White House web site at www.whitehouse.gov. For some great photos of the historic inauguration, please visit www.america.gov. We also have links on our home page to President Obama’s inauguration speech, and if you haven’t had the opportunity to read it in full, I would encourage you to do so.
We hosted Ambassador Victor Ashe in Krakow in January for his official farewell, but we were delighted to learn recently that he has been asked to stay on by the Obama administration until a new ambassador has been confirmed. I accompanied Ambassador Ashe this week on a trip to Rzeszow and Tarnow, and we enjoyed hearing about the new road construction and development taking place in the Podkarpackie region.
There will be a great deal of focus on NATO in February as Krakow plays host to a NATO Ministerial conference. 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of NATO and the 10th anniversary of Poland’s entry into this important transatlantic institution. For some information on NATO and its history, I invite you to visit the US Mission to NATO’s web site at nato.usmission.gov.
Speaking of anniversaries, the U.S. Mission to Poland has begun the yearlong celebrations of the 90th anniversary of Polish-American diplomatic relations. The United States was the first country to formally recognize Poland on January 29, 1919. 2009 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Fulbright program, and Polish-American academic exchanges will be increasing in the upcoming years. 2009 also happens to be the 35th anniversary of the U.S. Consulate General in Krakow. The story of how our Consulate came to open in 1974 is a fascinating one, and we have put together a brief history on our home page. With all of these anniversaries, 2009 promises to be a terrific year for the Polish-American relationship.
Anne Hall
Consul General
Prominent U.S. Journalist Marcus Mabry will visit Poland February 23-26.
Marcus Mabry is the International Business Editor of The New York Times, responsible for international coverage in the newspaper’s business section and for managing its corps of international business correspondents. He came to the position in 2007, after nearly 20 years as an editor and correspondent at Newsweek. In his last position at Newsweek, Mabry was chief of correspondents, responsible for deploying and managing the magazine’s more than 40 domestic and international correspondents and contract stringers. Before that, Mabry was a Paris correspondent, Johannesburg bureau chief and State Department correspondent.
Mabry’s latest book is Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power, an intimate examination of the life and career of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Mabry’s first book, published when he was 28 years old, is the memoir White Bucks and Black-Eyed Peas: Coming of Age Black in White America, which recounts his personal journey from poverty and welfare, the son of a single mother who went on to prep school and Stanford University. Both White Bucks and Black-Eyed Peas and Twice as Good were re-released in paperback in 2008.
Mr. Mabry will speak in Warsaw, Poznan, and Krakow. In Krakow he will have a lecture at the Krakow School of Economics on February 26.
For more information on the Krakow lecture, please contact the Public Affairs Office at 012 4245140.
These pages share President Obama’s words with our global readership. This book includes the complete text of the 44th President’s Inaugural Address. Also featured are extended excerpts from eight other significant campaign and pre-presidential speeches. It is our hope that while the book itself is small, readers will discover that the vision captured in its pages is large. NEW! Receive daily highlights from this title. Point your web browser or mobile device to twitter.com/americagovprint
Available at: http://www.america.gov/publications/books/obama_speech.html
Free At Last - The U.S. Civil Rights Movement
The book
Free At Last - The U.S. Civil Rights
Movements recounts how African-American slaves and their descendants struggled to win — both
in law and in practice — the civil rights enjoyed by other Americans. It is a story of dignified persistence and struggle, a story that
produced great heroes and heroines, and one that ultimately succeeded by forcing Americans to confront squarely the shameful gap between
their universal principles of equality and justice and the inequality, injustice, and oppression faced by millions of their fellow citizens.
Html version of the book: http://www.america.gov/publications/books-content/free-at-last.html
The citizens of the United States enthusiastically celebrated the inauguration of their 44th
president in January 2009. This issue of e-journal presents images and words from that special event. The peaceful transfer of power always
renews faith in the strength of democracy, but in 2009 the rise of an African-American to the nation’s highest office also gave reason for pride
at the nation’s repudiation of the segregation and slavery in its past. President Barack Obama called it a day when Americans chose “hope over fear.”
Issue available at: http://www.america.gov/publications/ejournalusa/inaug09.html
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