(WASHINGTON, D.C.) “Put briefly, NATO’s expansion … won an overwhelming Senate approval because of early, indefatigable efforts by bright, highly motivated activists in [among other entities] … ethnic-American organizations,” writes George W. Grayson, Professor of Government at the College of William & Mary, in Strange Bedfellows: NATO Marches East (1999). Professor Grayson goes on to discuss “the Hungarian American Coalition, and other organizations that had long advocated alliance membership for Central European states.” He adds that “Poles, Hungarians, Czechs and other Central and East-European ethnic groups roamed the corridors of Senate office buildings in search of votes.” In his book published prior to the Washington NATO Summit, Professor Grayson also devotes considerable attention to the Central and East European Coalition of which the Hungarian American Coalition was a lead member on NATO matters.

“Strange Bedfellows is a highly informative and readable book that traces the struggle for NATO enlargement from the time when the majority of policymakers opposed this step through the Senate’s ratification of the Protocols of Accession on April 30, 1998. Professor Grayson’s documenting the substantial contribution of organizations such as the Hungarian American Coalition to the successful outcome of the NATO debate is particularly gratifying,” said Board Member Frank Koszorus, Jr., who is mentioned in several places in the volume.