Honoring Amb. Bútora at Washington Golf & Country Club

FOS hosted a gala dinner for Martin and Zora Bútora on November 16, 2012 at the Washington Golf & Country Club following his presentation of the Annual Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture at the Wilson Center in Washington. Among the 48 guests were Slovak Ambassador Peter Kmec, Czech Ambassador Petr Gandalovič, Martin Palous, former Permanent Representative to the UN for the Czech Republic, former Czech Ambassador to the US and currently head of the Havel Foundation in the US; Pavol Demeš, German Marshall Fund Transatlantic Fellow and former Slovak Minister of International Relations, Greg Fasing, Slovak honorary consul in Denver, and Tom Dine, former president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague and president of American Friends of the Czech Republic. FOS board members Ted Russell, Joe Senko, Bill Tucker, Julie Slavik, and Ken Bombara acted as table hosts.

Martin Bútora, one of the founding members of Friends of Slovakia, presented his remarks about the close relationship between Slovakia and the U.S. and the value of an organization like FOS in promoting U.S. Slovak friendship and cooperation. Several members of the FOS board of directors recalled the founding of FOS and the critical role that Martin played in the early life of the organization as Slovak Ambassador to Washington.