The U.S. Senate unanimously approved resolution S.J. Res. 38 “A Joint resolution conferring honorary citizenship of the United Sates to Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid…” which grants honorary U.S. citizenship to Bernardo de Gálvez.After the approval last July of H.J. Res. 105 of similar object and text by the House of Representatives, it only needs the signature of the U.S. President for this joint Congress resolution to be effective.
The conferring of honorary U.S. citizenship to Bernardo de Gálvez places this Spaniard in the pantheon of the most significant figures in U.S. history. This pantheon is a group of distinguished and limited members. The first one was Winston Churchill whose honorary citizenship was conferred by President Kennedy in 1963. Since then, only six individuals have been honored with this title: Raoul Wallenberg (1981), William y Hannah Callowhill Penn (1984), Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu –Mother Therese of Calcuta- (1996), Marqués de Lafayette (2002) and Casimir Pulaski (2009).
The resolution approved yesterday by U.S. Congress signifies not only the recognition of the mutual history between Spain and the U.S., but also represents an important gesture towards the contribution of the Hispanic community to the history and society of the United States of America.
At the beginning of the year, the Government of Spain through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and its Embassy in the U.S. drafted a GALVEZ PLAN which includes the support to the resolution approved yesterday, as well as a set of actions among which the following stand out: a touring exhibition about Bernardo de Gálvez and the Spanish contribution to the U.S. Independence, an International Academic Seminar on the same topic, the support of the production of a documentary on Galvez, the presentation of a portrait of him before Congress (ceremony to be held this coming December 9), and the promotion of Galvez’s figure in schools and other academic institutions.
Further information on Bernardo de Gálvez is available on the Embassy of Spain in the United States web page by clicking the link below:
http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Embajadas/WASHINGTON/en/Noticias/Documents/BGFArt.pdf
