What Would My Father Say to America?

RealClear Politics ^ | 10 Jul, 2026 | Katrina Lantos Swett

[MtnClimber]

Like many of my fellow Americans, I have spent much of this year contemplating the meaning of America’s 250th birthday. I have participated in fantastic events to mark this momentous occasion, and I have read dozens of reflections on America that range from passionately patriotic to sharply critical and everything in between. Yet, out of everything I’ve seen or read, I am most moved by the words of my own late father, which I revisited just before the Fourth of July holiday last week.

My father came to the United States out of the horrors of the Holocaust. He lost most of his family during the Nazi’s “Final Solution” in Hungary, and he only survived by escaping a forced labor camp and returning to his native Budapest, where he joined the underground resistance. After the war, he won a scholarship to study at the University of Washington and, with a grand total of $5 and a small piece of Hungarian salami in his pocket, he arrived at New York Harbor on Aug. 23, 1947. He wrote the following letter to his surviving relatives back in Hungary:

“Upon seeing the Statue of Liberty, I felt that the gates of a new, free, more humane and joyous world were opening to me. I spent approximately two hours with the passport office and at 2:30 pm, finally I stepped onto the soil of America. No one who has not experienced it can understand the feeling of release and liberation which the first contact with this wonderful land engendered in me; to be in bodily contact with this ground was sheer joy. Everyone I met with seemed so friendly, so helpful and so generous.”

His kind hosts took him on a nighttime tour of the city, and his wonder at the sights

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TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: liberty

[MtnClimber]

In his last public statement before he succumbed to cancer, my father said, “It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a Member of Congress. I will never fully be able to express my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country.”

[Red Badger]

Tom Lantos................

[Brian Griffin]

“the resurgence of white nationalism”

[Red Badger]

Tom Lantos stated that “with an infinitely more distinguished public record than yours, Admiral Boorda committed suicide when he may have committed a minor mistake.”

This comment was made during a 1996 congressional inquiry into the Filegate scandal, directed at witness Craig Livingstone, the head of the White House Personnel Security Office. Lantos was criticized by some colleagues, including Joe Scarborough, for the remark, which referenced the tragic suicide of Admiral Jeremy Boorda, the Chief of Naval Operations, who took his own life after his right to wear Combat V decorations was questioned.

[Brian Griffin]

“During his childhood, he met his future wife, Annette Tillemann (or Tilleman; born June 27, 1931), then using the name Agnes Ethel Seymour. Her family had managed to escape to Switzerland, using Swedish passports issued by Raoul Wallenberg. After Hungary was liberated, she and her family returned to Budapest, where she and Lantos met again. After emigrating to the United States, they married on July 13, 1950.”

“Annette’s father Sebastian was the brother of Jolie Gabor, with Jolie’s daughters Magda, Zsa Zsa, and Eva Gabor being first cousins to Annette Lantos.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lantos

[Brian Griffin]

“Lantos’s younger daughter, Katrina Lantos Swett, is married to ambassador and former U.S. Representative from New Hampshire Richard Swett, and was herself a candidate for Congress in New Hampshire. She now serves as President of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, and she is also the co-chair of the International Religious Freedom Summit.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lantos

[rktman]

My wife’s family faced similar circumstances by being German immigrants to Yugoslavia. Not Jewish, but not supporting the Nazis landed them in internment camps. Her mom was 4 but her aunt was ripe for the picking. Thankfully for me, her mom immigrated here before Mrs rktman was born. Through the entire Ellis Island route. Some folks are ungrateful “hateriots”. Being a citizen, sadly these days, doesn’t mean you’re an American. Thanks for the post.

😊👍🇺🇸

[Brian Griffin]

“Lantos made his first run for office in 1980, challenging Republican Congressman Bill Royer, who had won a 1979 special election after Democrat Leo Ryan was killed in the Jonestown massacre. Lantos defeated Royer by 5,700 votes. He never again faced such a close contest, and was re-elected 13 times. Lantos earned a reputation as a champion for various human rights causes, such as having Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang testify at a congressional hearing after the company turned over the email records of two Chinese dissidents to the Chinese government, allowing them to be traced and one sentenced to jail.

“Lantos was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and repeatedly called for reforms to the nation’s health-care system, reduction of the national budget deficit and the national debt, repeal of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. He opposed Social Security privatization efforts. He supported same-sex marriage rights and marijuana for medical use, was a strong proponent of gun control and adamantly pro-choice.”

“The 11th district that Lantos served from 1981 until 1993 included a small portion of San Francisco, as well as Daly City and San Mateo.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lantos

[rlmorel]

"...What Would My Father Say to America?..."

Hm.

My father, a 30 year Navy vet has been gone 26 years now, and I can imagine him sitting at the kitchen table, cigarette in one hand, cup of coffee in the other. Looking out the kitchen window into the distance, his blue eyes fixed on nothing in particular, pondering the daily news he might have heard had be been alive today.

He was not a big talker, but I'll bet he would have a lot of things that would be rolling around in his head.

[Brian Griffin]

“Lantos adopted the Progressive Caucus Position Paper:
The Progressive Caucus is united in its goal of making health care a right, not a privilege....”

https://www.ontheissues.org/CA/Tom_Lantos_Health_Care.htm

[Bon of Babble]

My next door neighbors are from Eastern Europe - the wife told me she took her recent driver’s test in Russian.

For the 4th, their house was decorated all over with American flags - a huge flag in front of the house, a huge 250 year banner on their front gate and other 4th of July decor all over the yard all the way to the sidewalk.

They have told me repeatedly how grateful they are to be here.

There were only four other American flags in front of homes in a two block area on the 4th - I counted. Mine being one of them.

Pity so few people understand the meaning of the 4th of July and only see if as a day off of work or to have a backyard party.

[marktwain]

It appears Tom Lantos pushed Progressive politics in the USA.

He pushed socialist medicine and other progressive policies.

He appears to have done a great deal to destroy the United States created by the US Constitution.