Ronald Reagan

“ During Captive Nations Week, we honor the courage, faith, and aspirations of the millions of people the world over who suffer under Soviet domination. They desire, seek, and deserve, as the common heritage of humanity, the liberty, justice, self-determination, and independence we Americans and all free peoples cherish. The citizens of the captive nations daily hear the mighty call of freedom and answer it boldly, sending an echo around the globe to remind totalitarians and all mankind that their voices cannot be quelled-because they are the voices of the human spirit. ”

“ We applaud the courage and faith that have sustained countless people and kept alive the dream of freedom against unthinkable odds. Despite starvation, torture, and murder, the indomitable human spirit will outlast all oppression. ”

“ Across the continents and seas, the cry for freedom rings out and the struggle for its blessings continues, in the republics of the Soviet Union, in the Baltic States and throughout Eastern Europe, in Cuba and Nicaragua, in Ethiopia and Angola, and in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. ”