“Honorary Citizen of the United States” ( English Honorary citizen of the United States ) - a title established in 1963 and assigned by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States to foreign citizens for their "exceptional services" to the United States .
Content
Grounds and Rights
Honorary citizenship is granted for “exceptional merit” and is the highest award of the United States for foreign citizens, however, its assignment is only a symbolic act that does not require the oath of the laureate and does not give him any rights, privileges or benefits that an ordinary American citizen has [1 ] [2] .
History
Winston Churchill became an honorary citizen of the United States according to the US President John F. Kennedy on April 9, 1963 [3] . On the same day, Kennedy presented at the White House ceremony a unique and one-of-a-kind passport of an honorary US citizen, made specifically for Churchill and handed over to the President by US Secretary of State [4] . Since Churchill himself, due to his illness, was absent from the ceremony and watched her on satellite television with his wife in his house in London [5] , his son, Randolph [4] personally received the passport from the hands of the US president. It is noteworthy that at that time Churchill was already an honorary citizen of eight American states, including Hawaii , Maryland , Nebraska , New Hampshire , North Carolina , Tennessee , Texas and West Virginia [5] .
| President Kennedy signing the proclamation | Churchill Honorary Citizenship Proclamation | Churchill Honor Ceremony |
Currently, eight people are honorary citizens of the United States, six of whom were awarded this title posthumously [6] [7] . Winston Churchill and Mother Teresa [8] were the only honorary US citizens to be awarded this title during their lifetime. Moreover, Gilbert Lafayette was actually the first foreign citizen - holder of honorary US citizenship, who was a citizen of the French king at birth, and later - a citizen of the states of Maryland and Virginia ; due to the latter joining the Union in 1788, he automatically became a citizen of the newly formed United States of America [5] . However, in 1935, the US Department of State, based on documents from the Continental Congress, concluded that Lafayette was only a “patriotic citizen of the United States” and his citizenship was not raised to the federal level [9] .
List of US Honorary Citizens (since 1963)
| Picture | Laureate | A country | date | P. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winston Churchill (1874-1965) | Great Britain | April 9, 1963 | [ten] | |
| Raoul Wallenberg † (1912-1952) | Sweden | October 5, 1981 | [eleven] | |
| William Penn † (1644-1718) | Great Britain | October 19, 1984 | [12] | |
| † (1671-1726) | ||||
| Mother Teresa (1910-1997) | India | October 1, 1996 | [13] | |
| Gilbert Lafayette † (1757-1834) | France | August 6, 2002 | [14] | |
| Casimir Pulawski † (1745-1779) | Poland | November 6, 2009 | [15] | |
| Bernardo de Galves † (1746-1786) | Spain | December 16, 2014 | [sixteen] |
Notes
- ↑ Honorary citizenship . (June 29, 2012). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ Christopher Klein. America's Honorary Citizens . History Channel (November 28, 2014). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ Proclamation 3525 . Presidential Project, University of California, Santa Barbara (April 9, 1963). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 Remarks Upon Signing Proclamation Conferring Honorary Citizenship on Sir Winston Churchill . Presidential Project, University of California, Santa Barbara (April 9, 1963). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 3 John Plumpton. Churchill Honored with US Citizenship . (1988). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ Natalie Fahlberg. Americans at Heart: Honoring our Honorary Citizens . (September 24, 2015). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ David D. Brown. The 8 Honorary Citizens of the United States . (March 9, 2015). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ 50th Anniversary of Honorary US Citizenship . Churchill International Society (2013). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ Conferring Honorary Citizenship of the US Posthumously on Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert Du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette . US Congress (July 19, 2002). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ Public Law 88-6 . US Senate (April 9, 1963). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ Public Law 97-54 . US Senate (October 5, 1981). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ Public Law 98-516 . US Senate (October 19, 1984). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ Public Law 104-218 . US Senate (October 1, 1996). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ Public Law 107-209 . US Senate (August 6, 2002). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ Public Law 111-94 . US Senate (November 6, 2009). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
- ↑ Public Law 113-229 . US Senate (December 16, 2014). Date of treatment July 16, 2017.
Links
- Honorary Citizens of the United States . US Senate .