CONSUL GENERAL SPEECHES

Remarks at the Dutch American Friendship Day Celebration, Sponsored by the Amsterdam American Business Club

April 19: Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam Lodewijk Asscher, Consul General Marjorie Ames, and Schiphol Group's Chief Financial Officer Pieter Verboom spoke at the celebration of Dutch American Friendship Day hosted by the Amsterdam American Business Club.

Ladies and Gentlemen:  It is a special pleasure for me to be here this evening and an honor to join Mr. Pieter Verboom and Mr. Lodewijk Aascher in speaking to you.  I’d like to thank both these gentlemen for extending such warm words in support of Dutch American relations and for the Schiphol Group and Schiphol Real Estate for sponsoring one of the Amsterdam American Business Club’s signature events.

As you have heard, it was 225 years ago today that the Staten-Generaal formally recognized the United States of America as an independent nation.  I would like to go a little further back in time and take a few minutes to talk to you about how this came about.  John Adams, one of the authors of the U.S. Constitution and a formidable statesman who later became the second president of the United States, was dispatched to The Netherlands from Paris in 1780 to undertake an important and daunting task:  to secure formal recognition of the United States by the Dutch government.  He and his family settled in Amsterdam.  He initially encountered substantial resistance to his proposal.  There were geopolitical forces allied against him.  Balanced in his favor, however, was the fact that Dutch merchants had provided support to the American cause during our revolutionary war.  Adams was convinced that both countries would benefit from expanded commercial relations.  He also had a strongly held belief in populism, and decided to take his campaign to the Dutch people, among whom he was warmly received.  Almost a year to the day after he formally submitted a request for recognition, it was granted.   And weeks later, John Adams hung the American flag outside a house on the Fluwelen Burgwal in The Hague.  By doing so established the first American Embassy anywhere in the world.

Later, Adams wrote, “I look upon my success in Holland as the happiest Event, and the greatest Action of my Life past or future.” 

I believe that the source of Adams’s words can be found beyond the geopolitical and perhaps even the economic imperatives of his time.  Our countries are linked not only by history, or by our long relationship, but by common values and shared principles.  Many historians believe that Declaration of Independence in 1776 echoes the Dutch struggle to free themselves from Spanish rule two hundred years earlier.  Besides their commitment to freedom,  Dutch settlers brought with them to places they called Manhattan, and Haarlem, and Breukelen and Conijn Ijland and Staten Ijland, a deeply held belief in independence and representational government.  It is a strong antecedent to our version of “government of the people, for the people and by the people.”  We learned from you the foundations for equality and tolerance that have become central to our society today.  And let’s not forget an adventurous spirit of the Nieuwe Nederlanders.  I begin to recognize those settlers quite well in the spirit of optimism among their modern counterparts ...

Across the years since April 19, 1782, The Netherlands and the United States have supported each other in time of need, whether it was the Dutch assistance that financed our early economy, or the Louisiana Purchase, to the sacrifices American soldiers made standing side by side with Dutch patriots to rid this nation of Nazi tyranny, the Marshall Plan, the establishment of NATO and our decades of solidarity resulting in the eventual overthrow of communism in Europe… to addressing the present day threat of global terrorism, to material support in the aftermath of devastating natural disasters – the terrible Dutch flood in 1953, and most recently in my country, the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.

We have also flourished together.  The Netherlands is the third largest investor in the United States and we are the second largest in this nation.  Many of you here today represent the vibrant commercial relationship that we enjoy and that I hope will continue to prosper and expand. 
 
The Amsterdam American Business Club plays a starring role in support of our relationship.  The organization helps Americans settle in to their new homes and lives in The Netherlands, and provides a sense of community and support, as well as serving as an important business network.  And the AABC provides an excellent forum for discussing economic, social, political and cultural issues with distinguished speakers like Mr. Verboom and Mr. Asscher.

There’s yet another reason that I am grateful to the AABC:  it is steadfast in its celebration of this day.

And building on the AABC’s traditional celebration of Dutch American Friendship day on this the 225th anniversary, the U.S. and The Netherlands have organized a week-long series of events held throughout The Netherlands, including several presentations by Russell Shorto, author of a tremendous history of Nieuwe Amsterdam in my home state of New York.

We are also grateful to the Dutch government for holding a commemoration at the Binnenhof at which Prime Minister Balkenende and Ambassador Arnall, among others, spoke earlier this afternoon.  Tomorrow night, the Amsterdam Admirals are dedicating their opening football game this season to Dutch American Friendship Day.  On Sunday, Leiden University will host an event organized by a tremendous organization called “Overseas Americans Remember” that commemorates important moments in American – and Dutch – history.

Across the Atlantic, two of our Members of Congress of Dutch origin Representative Peter Hoekstra of the state of Michigan, and Representative Chris van Hollen of the state of Maryland have ensured that Dutch American Friendship Day will be celebrated for years to come.  They sponsored a resolution – which was overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives – proclaiming the importance of the historic relationship and friendship between our two nations, noting that:

“  … the heritage of this friendship between peoples serves as a laudable example for the kinds of relations that should link all peoples of the earth.”

I cannot say it more eloquently.  I can simply say:  I am glad to be with you today and I am confident that together we can look forward to another 225 years of friendship between our two nations.