THE GENERAL TADEUSZ KOSCIUSZKO EVENTS ON MAY 3 AND MAY 4. 2024 AT WEST POINT
by John Czop
The annual General Tadeusz Kosciuszko events, produced by the American Association of the Friends of Kosciuszko at West Point (AAFKWP), have two components. First, an academic conference with morning and afternoon sessions will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 3. Participation in this conference requires filling out and posting the attached registration form. Second, on Saturday May 4, the schedule is: Holy Mass at the Cadet Chapel of the Holy Trinity at 8 a.m., followed by a parade, known as the Cadet Review, and then commemorative events including speeches at the Kosciuszko Monument. Participants who wish to have lunch at West Point on May 4 must pay in advance and are required to fill out and post the attached registration form.
As is the practice of AAFKWP Conferences, both a continental breakfast and lunch will be served on site in the Eisenhower Room so as to maintain all participants in one location for the convenience of all conferees. The Morning Session Featured Speakers on the Subject of the 233rd Anniversary of Poland’s Constitution of May 3, 1791 will be:
***Anthony J. Bajdek, AAFKWP Founder and President; Retired Associate Dean and Senior Lecturer in History, Northeastern University, Boston, MA; Author; AAFKWP Welcome and Overview.
***Steven W. Gilland, Lieutenent General, U. S. Army, 61st Superintendant, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY: USMA Welcome.
***Mieczyslaw B. Biskupski, Ph.D., Blejwas Professor of Polish and Polish American Studies, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain; Distinguished Author and Educator.
***Patrice Dabrowski, Ph.D., Associate of the Harvard University Ukrainian Institute; Distinguished Author and Educator.
***James S. Pula, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of History, Purdue University; Distinguished Author and Educator, Kosciuszko Biographer.
***Vincent Rospond, Independent Historian, Author, and Publisher, Point Pleasant, NJ.
***Robert A. Vitas, Ph.D., Chair, Lithuanian Research and Studies Center, Chicago, IL; Distinguished Author and Educator.
Each speaker will engage with a particular aspect of the May 3, 1791 Polish Constitution.
Speakers at the Afternoon Session of the Kosciuszko Conference will present new perspectives on the establishment of NATO in this 75th anniversary year of the Washington Treaty, of April 4, 1949 The Afternoon Session’s title: “NATO’S Challenges Past and Present: Same European Faces, Including NATO Aspiring Ukraine and the Same Bad Actors East of NATO’s border. Featured speakers will be:
***Stephen N. Olejasz, AAFKWP Founding Executive Vice President; Lieutenant Colonel (U. S. Army, Retired); Former Assistant Professor of History, USMA; Afternoon Session Moderator, Overview and Introductions:
***Krzysztof Nolbert, Republic of Poland Major General and Defense Attache, Embassy of Poland, Washington, DC.
***Mindaugas Mazonas, Republic of Lithuania Colonel and Defense Attache, Embassy of Lithuania, Washington, DC.
More details about the May 4 Commemorative Events appear on the web site of the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF THE FRIENDS OF KOSCIUSZKO AT WEST POINT, a 501 (c) (3) entity established in 2003 by then Associate Dean and Senior Lecturer in History at Northeastern University in Boston, Anthony J. Bajdek, who re-launched Kosciuszko commemorative events at West Point, which began in 1828.
Before it became the site of the United States Military Academy, West Point was a fort on the west bank of the Hudson River with the mission of stopping, with a chain and artillery, British ships based in New York City from sailing up the river to divide New England from the Middle Atlantic Colonies, and thereby defeat the American patriots. General Washington appointed Kosciuszko to fortify West Point.
Freedom loving women and men are now starting to commemorate the Quarter Millennium, or AMERICA 250, of the American Revolution. We do so in the historical context of the late 18th Century Democratic Revolutions, which swept through the Atlantic World, from 1760 in Switzerland to America, France, and Poland in the 1790s. The goal of the DemocraticRevolutions was to open positions in government to the talented rather than continuing to reserve posts in public administration to aristocrats.
As we observe these past events, we must be mindful of the present political struggle of freedom versus authoritarianism. The most telling example of this struggle is the war waged by the authoritarian Russian Federation to crush freedom in Ukraine.
Only the American Revolution, of all the late 18th century Democratic Revolutions, succeeded in establishing an enduring republican form of government based on freedom. This quarter millennium of continuity is expressed in America’s 1789 Constitution. We must remember that the American Revolution succeeded because of military victory against the British Empire.
By contrast, Poland’s democratic revolution, led by General Tadeusz Kosciuszko, was crushed by the armed force of her authoritarian neighbors, Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Poland’s Constitution of May 3, 1791, the world’s second oldest written constitution, remained aspirational, but established Poland’s democratic credentials.
This makes America and Poland partners in freedom both in the past and in the present. Only military power allows freedom and the principles of republican government to prevail against authoritarianism. Both America and Poland strongly support freedom for Ukraine. Both America and Poland support a strong NATO capable of ensuring collective security.
This is why, over the coming several years, as we observe AMERICA 250, the general theme of the annual commemorations organized by the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF THE FRIENDS OF KOSCIUSZKO AT WEST POINT, a 501 (c) (3) entity, will be: AMERICA AND POLAND PARTNERS IN FREEDOM. The title of the 2024 Tadeusz Kosciuszko Conference is: Enduring Strategic and Tactical Anniversaries and Their Legacies: Poland’s Constitution of May 3, 1791; and Creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on April 4, 1949.
The message of the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF THE FRIENDS OF KOSCIUSZKO AT WEST POINT commemorative events is: AMERICA AND POLAND: PAST AND PRESENT PARTNERS IN FREEDOM.
Financial Aspects of SAVING THE INCLUSIVE DATES Related to May 3 and 4, 2024 THERE STILL REMAINS AMPLE TIME TO REGISTER
REGISTRATION – Reservation Form (print, complete, enclose your check, and mail this form as noted below):
I have enclosed a check made payable to: American Association of the Friends of Kosciuszko at West Point (or AAFKWP for short) in the total amount of $ _ as follows:
• Number of registration(s) for the at $50 per person, that includes a continental breakfast and a buffet lunch, per person for a total of $ _ made payable to the AAFKWP, to be held in the Eisenhower Room of the Thayer Hotel.
- Following completion of the Conference on May 3, attendees inclined to participate in the related dinner in the Thayer Hotel’s MacArthur Riverview Room will be required to make separate payment to the Thayer Hotel waitstaff as appears in the rectangle-bordered section below.
- Number of reservation(s) _ for the Saturday Kościuszko Luncheon on May 4 at $50 per person for a total of $____ to be held in the Washington Room of the Thayer Hotel.
- I also wish to renew my dues for 2024 ($25 for an individual annual membership; $60 for an annual organization membership; or $150 for a lifetime membership for only an individual person, not for a corporate entity or organization which must renew its $60 membership annually $________.
- (NOTE: Once Lifetime Members have paid their membership fee, no other payment of annual renewal of dues is necessary.)
- I wish to donate $25 to support the attendance of West Point cadets at the Annual Tadeusz Kosciuszko Conference on May 3 and the Kosciuszko Memorial Luncheon on May 4: . Conference on May 3 NOTE: For children 5 and under, there is no luncheon charge. The luncheon charge for children 6 to 12 is $20. CITY / TOWN / STATE / ZIP: ___________________________________________________
PHONE NUMBER: _____________________________________________________
EMAIL: _____________________________________________________________
PLEASE NOTE: Payments for either any aspect, or all (except for the post-Conference dinner) of the above, must be received at the address below,
Mail completed Registration – Reservation form, and check (made payable to the AAFKWP) to: Cynthia J. Bajdek, Treasurer, AAFKWP, 45 Reflection Drive, Hudson, NH 03051
Finally, please note that the post-Conference Friday seafood buffet dinner of earlier years is no longer offered by the Thayer Hotel. Conference attendees who wish to dine that evening at the Thayer Hotel’s restaurant noted above must make the reservations themselves with the Hotel’s restaurant staff. The bill for the dinner is to be paid by each person who plans to dine, directly to the Thayer Hotel’s Restaurant via its waitstaff on the evening of May 3.
NAME (first and last): ____________________________________________________ STREET ADDRESS: _____________________________________________________
no later than April 19, 2024. Without pre-payments and reservations, admittance to the Conference and
Luncheon respectively will be a problem on the days of the events because the food counts for the events of May 3 and 4
must be submitted to the Hotel for April 19. Payment to the Hotel for the post-Conference dinner will occur at the dinner.
Questions? Call Peter J. Walentowicz (973) 432-8841 or Cynthia J. Bajdek at (508) 735-4008. Thank you for your support!