Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States

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Nov 11, 11, 04:50 #1

Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States is a collection of 111 volumes compiled in Poland in 1926 and delivered to President Calvin Coolidge at the White House to honor the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Illustrated with original works by prominent Polish graphic artists, the collection includes the greetings and signatures of national, provincial, and local government officials, representatives of religious, social, business, academic, and military institutions, and approximately five-and-a-half million school children.

At President Coolidge's behest, this unique gift was transferred to the Library of Congress, where it remained largely forgotten for some seven decades. In 1996 the collection was "rediscovered" serendipitously during the visit of Polish First Lady Jolanta Kwasniewska and other dignitaries from the Embassy of Poland.

The graphics are beautiful Art Deco type and borders. Thirteen of the 111 volumes have been digitised. There are now 250 images available online here..

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=pldec&fileName=/001/pldec0 01.db&recNum=0&itemLink=D?pldec:1:./temp/~intldl_P5Eg::

Ozi DanThreads: 22 Posts: 552 Joined: Nov 22, 07 ♂	Nov 23, 11, 05:42 #2
Hi Onesuch - welcome to the forum and cool post too. I read online (can't find the link now though) that another such gift was given by Pilsudski to Eisenhower?? in the early 1930's, being Soviet codes cracked by Polish code-breakers, and purportedly used by the USA until after WW2, without the knowledge of the Soviets. Cheers

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Nov 24, 11, 01:42 #3

Ozi Dan

I can't find the Pilduski to Eisenhower reference either but this is an informative article on the Polish role in breaking the enigma code and does mention Eisenhower and the gift to the allies.

It says in part...
"The Poles' gift, to their western Allies, of Enigma decryption, five weeks before the outbreak of World War II, came not a moment too soon. Former Bletchley Park mathematician-cryptologist Gordon Welchman has written: "Ultra [Allied high-grade signals intelligence] would never have gotten off the ground if we had not learned from the Poles, in the nick of time, the details both of the German military ... Enigma machine, and of the operating procedures that were in use." After the war, Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill was to tell King George VI: "It was thanks to Ultra that we won the war."Allied Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, at war's end, described intelligence from Bletchley Park as having been "of priceless value to me. It has simplified my task as a commander enormously." Eisenhower expressed his thanks for this "decisive contribution to the Allied war effort.""

I never knew the polish involvement, thanks for pointing it out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biuro_Szyfr%C3%B3w

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Nov 24, 11, 03:32 #4

Cheers mate - didn't know you were an Aussie. Polish descent? There's a few Aussies here and you'll no doubt run into them.

I've found that website. It's from the Sunday Catholic Weekly and it was MacArthur who met with Pilsudski in 1932 in Poland - apparently he was a fan of Pilsudski (which martial character wasn't though). It says that Mac was given 2 Russian codes, broken by Polish mathematicians. It also says that he was given the first incarnation of the Enigma code.

As to your link, I never knew the Enigma gift was seen by leaders as instrumental to winning the war to the degree stated. Pity it wasn't reciprocated, but anyway.

skysoulmateThreads: 41 Posts: 3,039 Joined: Jan 10, 10 ♂	Edited by: skysoulmate Nov 24, 11, 09:34 #5
Great piece of history, thanks onesuch. I've only looked over a few pages so far and must say I love the old Polish Eagle emblem, looks great. (page 13)

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Polish Declarations of Admiration and Friendship for the United States - 1926