Highlights from the UNA's 110-year history (07/25/04)

Highlights from the UNA's 110-year history

A special yearlong feature focusing on the history of the Ukrainian National Association.

The 25th Convention of the Ukrainian National Association, a jubilee gathering, was held in New York from May 21-26, 1962, with 422 delegates and 21 supreme officers attending (representing a total of 856 votes).

The convention was notable for the fact that it was greeted by prominent leaders such as U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Prime Minister John F. Diefenbaker of Canada, as well as Metropolitan Ambrose Senyshyn of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United States and

Metropolitan John Theodorovich of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Dr. Stepan Wytwycky, president of the Ukrainian National Republic in exile.

Supreme executive officers' reports noted that UNA membership now was 81,441, insured for a sum of $61,894,377. There were now 489 UNA branches across North America.

A mere two years later, UNA membership had grown even further to 83,940, while assets reached the amount of $28,294,732.95.

Among the decisions made at the convention: the number of UNA advisors was increased from 12 to 14; a by-laws committee and a scholarship committee were established; the UNA would now sell term insurance plans, as well as accidental death and dismemberment policies.

Elected to lead the UNA was Joseph Lesawyer, who had been acting president since the death a year earlier of Dmytro Halychyn.

Prior to the convention, UNA officers and a number of delegates attended the blessing of the monument on the grave of Mr. Halychyn at Calvary Cemetery in New York.

The convention concluded with a gala banquet that was addressed, among others, by Sen. Jacob K. Javits (D-N.Y.), and New Jersey Gov. Richard J. Hughes.

Writing in his history of UNA conventions, Svoboda Editor-in-Chief Anthony Dragan noted: "... the reports, discussions and results of the convention proceedings indicated that the UNA was passing through one of the greatest periods in its history, having risen to unprecedented heights of developments in terms of both membership and assets. ... the UNA had matured in all respects and developed into a veritable Ukrainian 'rock of Gibraltar' on the American and Canadian soil."

Source: "Ukrainian National Association: Its Past and Present, (1894-1964)," by Anthony Dragan (translated from the original Ukrainian by Zenon Snylyk). Jersey City, N.J.: Svoboda Press, 1964. The border featured in this special feature is reproduced from a UNA membership certificate dating to 1919.

| Home Page |