Dinner with Clinton, Havel, and Albright in New York

Skilling’s notes on a gala-dinner for Madeleine Albright, the Plaza Hotel, New York City, 7 September 2000

When the U.S. Immigration officer, a lady, at Toronto airport asked me the purpose of my trip to New York, I jokingly replied – To have dinner with President Clinton! In fact, as I later explained, I had been invited to the gala dinner hosted by President Clinton and President Havel to honour Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State. I had no tangible evidence, as I did not have with me my invitation and had only email messages from my hostess in New York and her colleague who was going to meet me at the airport. My first reply piqued the agent’s curiosity, and aroused some suspicions. After some further questioning, she went away to consult her supervisor and then asked me to come to his office for further questioning. Shades of StB interrogations in Bratislava! After a long wait I was cordially greeted by a young officer who had examined the email messages, had photocopied them and probably discussed my case further with Washington, and who allowed me to proceed to the plane!

This was but the first of a string of absurd happenings including my own presence at this predominantly American affair, sponsored as a fund raising event by the America Friends of Czechoslovakia. Tickets were $500 or $1,000 per plate, or $25,000 for a table for ten. I was invited to attend, as a guest, by Maureen Aung-Thwin, a Burmese friend of my son Peter’s. [She is also] head of the South East Asian department of George Soros’s Open Society office in New York. She had been active for years in the campaign for Burmese Freedom. The Czechs, including President Havel, had given support to this campaign, and she in turn had supported Czech causes. This somewhat strange coincidence of Czech and Burmese struggles for freedom led to my presence at this extraordinary gathering of the Czech-American elite, as the only Canadian present.

Maureen, an ingenious and dynamic organizer, insisted that I use a wheel-chair for this venture. But how to crash the inner circle cocktail party of this event where President Havel would be present? She arranged a pre-cocktail drink with Bruce Jackson, [who is] a Republican [and] a Washington bureaucrat who had been active in the campaign for Czech entry into NATO. Maureen then whirled me through the corridors of the Plaza Hotel at breakneck speed, and pushed by Mr. Jackson. We entered the private cocktail party without presenting the starred ticket required by others. Shortly thereafter, President Havel and his wife, Dasha, and her daughter, arrived, and he greeted me warmly. As chance would have it he took up a position in the corner of the room where I was immobilized in the wheel-chair, so that I was a few feet away from him for the following hour and a half. I was able to swing around in my chair and talk to Havel more than once. Sitting in my wheel-chair, with my white hair, and Order of the White Lion I attracted the attention of everyone crowding forward to shake hands with Havel, and was greeted by many, although most had not the foggiest notion of who I was.

From my vantage point in the centre of things I had a chance to talk to the Czech Ambassador in Washington, Sasha Vondra, the Slovak Ambassador, Martin Butora, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Martin Palous, and Madeleine Albright. When I told her my name, she responded – Gordon, I have read every word you have ever written!!! But I told her about my Pameti [memoirs] to appear in the Fall as yet unread! I also met the U.S. Ambassador, John Shattuck. Later I met Charles Petschek, the grandson of the former Czech magnate, the owner of the mansion now used as the U.S. Residence [in Prague]. What an unreal and madcap event it was!!

The dinner was exciting, too. Master of ceremonies was Tom Brokaw, the NBC broadcaster, who told of his childhood among Czech immigrants in the town of Tabor, Iowa, and the exciting days of the Velvet Revolution which he covered for NBC. The playwright Arthur Miller, who had visited Czechoslovakia during the sixties, struck an appropriate note when he stressed the many absurdities of the Czechoslovak situation – the absurdities of the Communist system itself and of the seemingly hopeless intellectual resistance to it, and most of all the absurdity of the election of the dissident Havel to the Presidency. President Clinton was not able to come, as he was hosting a dinner for the other 148 heads of state at the Millennium Conference. However, he addressed us on video, on an enlarged screen, as did all the many speakers.

Both Clinton and Havel praised Madeleine Albright to the skies for her defence of human rights and freedom. Havel presented her with the Civil Society Vision Award for her work in promoting civil society. In a gracious reply she added another note of absurdity – the appointment of this ‘little Czech girl’ to the office of Secretary of State, the highest office ever held by a woman in the American administration. Clinton, Havel and Albright all laid great stress on the achievements of the Kosovo bombing campaign, and this was backed up by General Wesley Clark (who was not of Czech origin!!), allied commander, who called Albright a warrior in the action against Yugoslavia.

The evening was also a celebration of Czech achievements in America, and many prominent Americans of Czech origin were present including Eugene Cernan, astronaut who reached the moon, Martina Navratilova, tennis star, Peter Sis, author and illustrator, Ray Krok, founder of McDonald’s, Michael Eisner, head of Disney Productions, etc., etc. The evening closed with songs from Dvorak sung by Dagmar Peckova, operatic star. For Czechs and for many others it was a moving event.