- Messages
- 54,308
gandydancer said:
Ok, now I have my hands on what I want here.
The man whose name I wanted to remember was Hungarian patriot (not poet but I knew it began with p
) Lajos Kossuth. He was also a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and regent for a time. Far before the 1881 play Fedora by Victorien Sardou, there was Kossuth. He was the "Father of Hungarian Democracy" and came to the United States during 1851/52 as an official guest of the government to seek American support for Hungarian independence. During his six-month stay he was the second non-US citizen to address the Senate and the House of Representatives, toured the country, visited more than 60 cities, and gave about 300 speeches. He became a symbol of democracy, representative government, and national independence for the Hungarian people. He catapulted the soft felts that were hand shaped and worn by peasants into fashionable headwear when he wore the wide brimmed, shaped rounded crown hat instead of the top hat of the day.
While it is true that his visit happened to coincide with a romantic period of art and literature, it was the charisma of Kossuth that vaulted the hat above the peasant because it sat on his head. His presence here for that short six months is still felt in the areas where he spoke and met with officials because they still commemorate his visit in New Orleans, Boston and Columbus 153 years later. There is even a Kossuth County in Iowa.
Finding evidenciary pictures of him wearing the hat is very hard. There are a few prints that follow showing him with a hat but it is too far away to get details of the hat. I suppose they were more interested in the man.
If you look closely in these prints you can just make out the hat Kossuth has in his hand and on his head. I have circled him in the prints.
Regards to all,
J
