AND OVER A CENTURY OF ALBANIAN AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP “The friendship between the Albanian people and the United States is one of history's rare examples of a relationship founded not upon geography or power, but upon a shared and enduring belief in liberty.” The Author 1|Page
Introduction 1. ALBANIAN AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE 2. FASCISM, COMMUNISM, AND THE IMPOSITION OF ANTI-AMERICANISM IN ALBANIA 3. FREEDOM WORKS AND THE END OF COMMUNISM IN ALBANIA 4. THE DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE AND ITS UNIVERSAL LEGACY 5. THE INFLUENCE OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE ON THE ALBANIAN PEOPLE: INSPIRED BY AMERICAN PRINCIPLES 6. THE FIRST ALBANIANS IN AMERICA AND THE BIRTH OF THE ALBANIAN–AMERICAN COMMUNITY 7. THE ROLE OF THE PAN-ALBANIAN FEDERATION OF AMERICA (VATRA) 8. THE ALBANIAN AMERICAN CIVIC LEAGUE AND THE MODERN ERA OF ALBANIAN–AMERICAN ADVOCACY 9. THE AMERICAN FRIENDS OF ALBANIA: MISSIONARIES, EDUCATORS, WRITERS, DIPLOMATS, AND SCHOLARS 10. THE POLITICAL ARCHITECTS WHO SHAPED ALBANIAN–AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP: FROM 2|Page
PARTNERSHIP OF TODAY 11. PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES WHO SHAPED ALBANIAN–AMERICAN RELATIONS 12. SECRETARIES OF STATE AND THE CONSOLIDATION OF ALBANIAN–AMERICAN RELATIONS 13. THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS AND THE DEFENSE OF THE ALBANIAN CAUSE 14. THE ALBANIAN-AMERICANS: BUILDERS OF AN ENDURING FRIENDSHIP WITH THE UNITED STATES 15. RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND THE SPIRIT OF INTERFAITH HARMONY 16. ALBANIAN-AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ARTS, CULTURE, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE CREATIVE SPIRIT 17. MUSIC: FROM OPERA TO CONTEMPORARY POPULAR CULTURE 18. SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND EXPLORATION 19. Conclusion 20. Appendixes 3|Page
OVER A CENTURY OF ALBANIAN AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP By Mal Berisha “The friendship between the Albanian people and the United States is one of history's rare examples of a relationship founded not upon geography or power, but upon a shared and enduring belief in liberty.” The Author Introduction As the United States of America commemorates the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026, the world reflects upon the enduring significance of the document that gave birth to one of the most influential democratic nations in human history. Nearly two and a half centuries after its adoption, the Declaration of Independence continues to inspire peoples across the globe who cherish liberty, human dignity, self-government, and the universal right of nations to determine their own destiny. Among the peoples who found lasting inspiration in the American example were the Albanians. Although separated from the United States by geography, language, culture, and 4|Page
for the principles upon which the American Republic was founded. Over time, that admiration evolved into one of the most sincere and enduring friendships between a small Balkan nation and one of the world's leading democratic powers. This study explores the historical evolution of that remarkable friendship. It traces Albanian–American relations from their earliest beginnings through the contributions of missionaries, educators, diplomats, scholars, writers, journalists, statesmen, and countless other individuals whose vision, dedication, and friendship laid the foundations of an enduring partnership between the Albanian and American peoples. It also examines the decisive role played by the leaders and statesmen of the post–Cold War era, whose vision transformed a long-standing friendship into a strategic partnership founded upon shared democratic values, mutual trust, and common aspirations. Yet the history of Albanian–American relations is far more than a diplomatic narrative. It is a story of shared ideals, mutual respect, and enduring human connections forged over more than a century. It is also a story of remarkable resilience. Wars, occupations, dictatorship, and nearly half a century without diplomatic relations failed to extinguish the admiration that generations of Albanians held for the United 5|Page
that friendship re-emerged with extraordinary strength, demonstrating that it had never truly disappeared but had endured decades of enforced separation. My inspiration for undertaking this study came from reading National Treasure: “How the Declaration of Independence Made America” by Michael Auslin. His work offers a compelling reminder that the Declaration of Independence is far more than a historic document preserved in the National Archives of the United States. It is a living testament to the principles of liberty, equality, selfgovernment, and the inalienable rights of humanity. Those principles not only shaped the United States but also inspired generations of men and women—and countless nations— across the world, including the Albanian people in their own long struggle for freedom, national independence, democracy, and their enduring friendship with America. 6|Page
A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE Although separated by 136 years, the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 and the Albanian Declaration of Independence of 1912 were born of the same universal aspiration: the determination of a people to govern themselves in freedom and dignity. The historical circumstances surrounding the two declarations were profoundly different. The American colonies proclaimed their independence from the British Crown and established a constitutional republic founded upon the principles of popular sovereignty, representative government, and individual liberty. Albania, by contrast, declared its independence after nearly five centuries of Ottoman rule, at a time when the collapse of an empire and 7|Page
not only its political future but its very existence. Despite these different historical settings, the two declarations were united by a common philosophy. Both affirmed the right of a people to determine its own destiny, rejected foreign domination, and sought to establish political legitimacy upon the consent and will of the nation rather than upon imperial authority. For Albanians, the American experience became much more than a chapter of foreign history. It demonstrated that the ideals of liberty, constitutional government, and national self-determination could become the foundation of a modern democratic state. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, generations of Albanian patriots looked to the United States not only with admiration but also with hope, seeing in the American Republic an enduring example of the successful realization of those universal principles. The history that follows is the history of how shared ideals gave birth to an enduring friendship between two peoples—a friendship built not upon strategic convenience or geographic proximity, but upon a common belief in freedom, democracy, human dignity, and national selfdetermination. 8|Page
The Italian Fascist invasion of Albania in April 1939, followed by the German occupation during the Second World War, abruptly interrupted the country's independent political development. Yet the most profound rupture in Albanian– American relations came after the communist takeover in November 1944, when Albania fell under one of the most isolated and repressive totalitarian regimes in Europe. For nearly half a century, diplomatic relations between Albania and the United States remained severed. The fundamental principles upon which the United States had been founded—individual liberty, political pluralism, free enterprise, freedom of conscience, and freedom of expression—were systematically denounced by the communist regime as ideological enemies. Any public expression of admiration for the United States, any contact with Americans, and often even the simple mention of America in a positive light could expose an individual to surveillance, discrimination, imprisonment, internal exile, or even execution. Yet ideology proved incapable of erasing memory. When communism finally collapsed in the early 1990s, the extraordinary enthusiasm with which Albanians welcomed 9|Page
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