1984: A LOOK BACK: Political activities (12/30/84)

1984: A LOOK BACK

Political activities

For Ukrainian Americans, undoubtedly the biggest story out of Washington this year was the passage of the famine commission bill by Congress on October 11. The measure, which calls for the creation of a federally funded commission to investigate the Great Famine in Ukraine (1932-33), was adopted after some clever 11th-hour maneuvering in the waning hours of the 98th Congress by Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), who sponsored the bill in the Senate. The senator attached the measure to the Senate version of the continuing resolution, the omnibus funding measure that grants the government spending authority. On October 11, House and Senate conferees agreed on an omnibus spending bill which included the famine measure.

The famine bill had a long legislative history. It was first introduced in the House by Rep. James Florio (D-N.J.) on September 27, 1983, as House Resolution 3393. It was reintroduced in November, this time with 59 co-sponsors and the designation H.R. 4459. The Senate version of the bill, S. 2456, was introduced by Sen. Bradley on March 21.

The measure asked for the creation of a commission to study the circumstances of the famine, which was instigated by Soviet government policies ordering the confiscation of grain and foodstuffs from peasants and farmers in Soviet-occupied eastern Ukraine. An estimated 7 million Ukrainians starved to death in the ensuing holocaust.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Sen. Charles Percy (R-Ill.), held hearings on the bill on August 1. Testifying in favor of the measure were Ihor Olshaniwsky of Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine, a New Jersey-based group instrumental in gaining Congressional support for the bill; Myron Kuropas, UNA supreme vice-president and a noted community activist; and Sen. Bradley. Over on the House side, the Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on International Operations chaired by Rep. Dan Mica (D-Fla.) held a hearing on October 3, just one day prior to the scheduled close of the 98th Congress. Legislators testifying on behalf of the bill were Reps. Florio and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), and Sen. Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.).

Somewhat surprisingly, opposition to the bill came from the State Department. Testifying at both hearings, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robie M.H. Palmer said the proposed commission was bureaucratically top-heavy, too expensive and redundant in light of private and academic studies of the famine.

Despite the administration's reservations, the Senate passed the famine commission bill by voice vote on September 21. The entire House never got the opportunity to act on the measure because of the deadline crisis and the subsequent joint omnibus spending bill.

In the final version, the commission was trimmed from 21 to 15 members and a sum of $400,000 was allocated for its activities.

It must be noted that while there was some vocal early opposition to the bill in the Ukrainian community, support for the measure grew tremendously, thanks largely to the efforts of the AHRU, which lobbied both in Washington and in Ukrainian centers around the country.

But the famine commission bill wasn't the only piece of legislation concerning the famine that passed Congress in 1984. On October 4, the House approved the Senate-amended House Concurrent Resolution 111, which asked the president to proclaim a day for "mournful commemoration of the Great Famine in Ukraine." The Senate had approved the resolution on September 13.

The measure was actually a compilation of two resolutions, the original H. Con. Res. 111, introduced in the House in early 1983 by Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-N.Y.) and passed by the House in November of that year, and Senate Concurrent Resolution 70, which was introduced by Sens. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) and Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and approved by the Senate on November 15, 1983. Also noted in the final compromise was S. Con. Res. 101, a measure identical to the original Solomon resolution, which was introduced in the Senate on March 30 by Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.).

The compromise resolution incorporated key elements of both original House and Senate versions.

In addition to asking the president to proclaim a day to commemorate the Great Famine, the measure called on him to urge the USSR to remove "restrictions on the shipment of food parcels and other necessities" to Soviet residents; to "issue a warning that continued subjugation of the Ukrainian nation...constitutes a threat to world peace"; and "manifest to the peoples of the USSR...that the people of the U.S. share with them their aspirations to determine their own destiny and to recover their freedom."

In heeding the famine resolution, President Ronald Reagan declared Sunday, November 4, as a "Day of Commemoration of the Great Famine in the Ukraine in 1933." The president signed the proclamation on Tuesday evening, October 30.

In addition to being a year of famine legislation, 1984 was also a federal election year. Although both sponsors of the famine bill won re-election, as did a large percent of co-sponsors in both the House and Senate, one key supporter and longtime friend of Ukrainian causes did go down to defeat - Sen. Percy, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The 65-year-old liberal Republican, who was seeking his fourth six-year term, was edged out by Rep. Paul Simon, a five-term congressman and former lieutenant governor.

In September, Sen. Percy had been awarded the first Humanitarian Award to be presented by the Ukrainian National Association for his many years of supporting Ukrainian causes, including the famine bill.

Also in the sphere of government action, the Voice of America in the fall began broadcasting to Ukrainians in the Soviet Far East. The one-hour broadcasts in the Ukrainian language are taped in Washington and heard in the Zelenyi Klyn, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok regions.