Remembering 'Mr. Captive Nations' Lev Dobriansky

The conservative movement lost a giant last week when Ambassador Lev E. Dobriansky passed away in his 90th year. Ambassador Dobriansky was rightly called "Mr. Captive Nations" because he authored the Captive Nations Week Resolution first proclaimed by President D wight D. Eisenhower in 1959 and celebrated by every succeeding U.S. president, regardless of political party or persuasion. The resolution infuriated-and scared-Soviet Russia, which knew full well how great a threat the "captive nations" represented to its empire.

Ambassador Dobriansky may be the only American ever to play a major role in two Washington monuments-the statue of the Ukrainian poet and nationalist hero Taras Shevchenko erected in 1964 and the Victims of Communism Memorial built in 2007.

He was the first chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and personally lined up the sponsors of the congressional resolution authorizing construction of the memorial. I can personally attest that he was a constant inspiration and helped us persevere through the inevitable ups and downs of the memorial process.

A professor of economics at Georgetown for more than three decades, Dr. Dobriansky was the author of many articles and books on Soviet Russia and communism, including The Vulnerable Russians and U.S.A. and the Soviet Myth.

He predicted in the 1950s that the fall of Soviet Russia was inevitable because of its fundamental economic weakness and the innate desire of the captive nations for freedom. When others wondered whether America and the Free World would ever prevail in the Cold War, Dr. Dobriansky insisted, "The Russians are not 10 feet tall."

At the dedication of the Victims of Communism Memorial, President George W. Bush recognized Ambassador Dobriansky's lifelong crusade against communism, calling the Memorial a testament to his "passion and determination."

Lev Dobriansky was born Nov. 9, 1918, in New York City to Ukrainian immigrant parents. He grew up in a Ukrainian-American community and went to New York University where he earned a PhD. in economics. While teaching at Georgetown University, he founded and directed the Institute on Comparative Economic and Political Systems, the first of the several successful institutes administered by the Fund for American Studies.

As teacher, ambassador, author, monument builder and mentor, Lev Dobriansky lived an enormously full life centered on one powerful idea: "Let us constantly strive to bring about the freedom and independence of all captive nations and peoples."

Mr. Edwards is the distinguished fellow in conservative thought at the Heritage Foundation.

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Feb 11, 2008
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