President Reagan’s 1987 Captive Nations proclamation:
For nearly three decades Captive Nations Week has symbolized the American people’s solidarity with all throughout the world who courageously seek freedom and independence from Soviet domination. During this week, we recall that the liberties we enjoy are denied to many by the Soviet empire; and we publicly affirm our admiration for captive nations, who keep the light of freedom burning brightly as they oppose military occupation and brutal totalitarian oppression.
Our Nation offers the world a vision of inalienable political, religious, and economic rights. This vision has always been shared among peoples subjugated by Soviet imperialism; and so has resistance, ever the catalyst of liberty. Today, a struggle that began in Ukraine 70 years ago is taking place throughout the Soviet empire. In the last year alone, people have risen up to demand basic human rights in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Moldavia, and among the Crimean Tatars.