05. října, 2026 Michal Vašečka
After 1945, however, at least one thing remained after the Slovak State. Many of those born earlier remember the well-maintained building on today’s Hviezdoslav square, which shone in the flood of crumbling houses neglected by the communist regime in the centre of Bratislava. It was the seat of the former US embassy from the Second World War. There was no official consulate there during the communist regime, but the building belonged to the United States all the time and they conscientiously maintained it. Even the author of these lines, as a child, went to look at a house with a quality facade in the eighties and dreamed of his childhood American dream.
Speaking of dreaming about a better future, one important thing should be mentioned: American Slovak relations have always been strongly influenced by the massive migration of Slovaks to the USA, which occurred in the past. Emigration from Upper Hungary began around 1870 and peaked at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In many cases, entire villages were affected, some of which were even completely depopulated. Estimates vary, but historians most often state that approximately 500,000 to 650,000 Slovaks came to the USA, which was roughly fifteen to twenty percent of the Slovak population at the time. Until 1914, the largest Slovak community outside Hungary lived in the USA.
Unlike the significantly less migrating Czechs, who went to America mainly for land, most Slovaks found employment in industry, namely in the most difficult and lowest-paid professions. Migrants from Hungary, often called Hunkies, were considered the cheapest labour force. They were very low in the stratification ladder, among those that autochthonous WASP referred to as „human trash“.
However, despite numerous problems and hardships, the USA meant for many people with origins in the poorest parts of the Habsburg Monarchy the possibility of social ascension. Slovaks migrated mainly to the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, with Pittsburgh and its surroundings becoming the informal capital of Slovak immigration. It should be remembered here that it was the local community that significantly contributed to the creation of Czechoslovakia. Without the strong Slovak diaspora in the USA, the birth of a new state would probably not have gone so smoothly. Therefore, Pittsburgh is sometimes referred to as one of the „birthplaces“ of Czechoslovakia.
This fact is rarely mentioned, which is partly understandable. American Slovaks had a greater influence on the creation of Czechoslovakia than those who lived in Slovakia. They were politically emancipated and even if they sometimes faced discrimination or even violence (as in the famous Lattimer massacre in 1897), they learned to navigate the world of the American representative democracy of the time. Thanks to this, they were equal partners in discussion for people like Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, who found similar discussion counterparts in Slovakia after 1918 after all more difficult.
Some of the American Slovaks returned to their original homeland and helped to change the stale local conditions. Not only because they built nice new houses known as „American“, but they also brought new, sometimes revolutionary perspectives on social reality. And they also influenced the language. Especially in eastern Slovakia, various garbled words originally from English were still used for a very long time, so it was possible to hear a grandmother with her grandchildren saying that they were „crossing this street“.
In view of the facts described above, it is remarkable that after 1989, Slovakia has long and systematically formed itself as the most strongly anti-American country in Central Europe. This is confirmed by several international opinion polls. It is understandably appropriate to distinguish between explicitly anti-American attitudes (distrust of the US, rejection of American foreign policy, perception of the US as a threat) on the one hand, and a low degree of favourable attitude towards the US compared to other countries on the other. At the same time, the topic of anti-Americanism can also be viewed through the lens of sympathy for Russia. Furthermore, there are narratives about „American interference“, which are often used as an indirect indicator of anti-Americanism.
One of the most frequently cited data measures approval of American global leadership. According to the 2012 Gallup U.S.-Global Leadership Project international survey, only 27 percent of respondents approved of the leadership role of the U.S. in Slovakia, while 32 percent did not approve and up to 41 percent could not answer. Repeated research by Pew Global Attitudes since the beginning of the 21st century has shown that increased negative attitudes towards US foreign policy are manifested in Slovakia. In these surveys, Slovakia showed a higher level of disapproval than other Central European countries and especially Poland, but at the same time it was a lower level than in the strongly anti-American states of Western Europe, such as Spain or Italy.
The GLOBSEC Trends research also monitors the geopolitical preferences of the inhabitants of Central Europe for a long time and repeatedly points out that Slovakia has for a long time the highest share of respondents in the region who consider the USA to be a destabilizing element. Part of the population perceives the United States as a similar or greater threat than Russia, and a significant group of respondents agreed with the statement that the US interferes in Slovakia’s internal affairs. The reports of the international think-tank GLOBSEC regularly point out that Slovakia has become one of the most vulnerable countries in the European Union to disinformation narratives linking the US to various global conspiracies, the war in Ukraine or migration.
Despite this attitude of the Slovak population, cooperation with the United States developed smoothly after the establishment of the Slovak Republic in 1993, even during the government of Vladimír Mečiar in 1994–1998. At that time, Ambassador Ralph R. Johnson played a positive role in the clear US attitude towards the excesses of the Mečiar regime. It is therefore understandable that cooperation deepened in Slovakia after 1998, when Vladimír Mečiar was defeated in the elections, and especially after 2004, when the country joined NATO, despite all possible problems. Above all, Slovakia’s accession to NATO played a significant role here, and with a bit of cynicism it can be stated that this should not surprise anyone. Indeed, the approach of the US to its allies is often not guided by sympathy or evaluation of human rights, but exclusively by common interests. We can thus imagine a potential debate in the American Pentagon: „Were the Slovaks with us in Iraq? They were. Were they with us in Afghanistan? They were. Are they buying our weapons? They do. Did they take some former Guantanamo prisoners from us? They did. Well, then it is clear – Slovaks are our allies.“
And of course – without the cynicism – we must not forget the role of important figures in Slovak official and civil diplomacy, especially in the years 1998-2004. The speech of the then Slovak ambassador Martin Bútory in the US Congress before the country’s admission to NATO literally thrilled the present congressmen. As if they suddenly understood that if there was something the Americans lacked in the North Atlantic Alliance, it was Slovakia… Martin Bútora talked about common values, hundreds of thousands of American Slovaks and Slovak soldiers fighting for the USA in all possible wars. When he mentioned Sergeant Michael Strank from the Spiš village of Jarabina, who together with other soldiers raised the American flag on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima in 1945, the decision was made.
The period 1998-2004 was marked by enchantment on the part of the US in American Slovak relations. In Washington, many were experiencing the syndrome of the return of the lost son. Slovakia was not trusted much until then, certainly less than the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. Many analysts did not expect much from Slovakia in the nineties. They even perceived the country as an entity somewhat related to the already mentioned wartime Slovak state, which took unfortunate part in the so-called “Final solution”. It also bothered them that after 1989 the Slovaks broke away from „great Czechs“ led by Václav Havel at the first opportunity and started creating an authoritarian regime again. However, Slovakia’s endless commitment to improving its image later led to the opposite extreme, and the country became the most popular Central European country in Washington for some time. Over time, however, Slovakia receded from the American perspective and the era of standard relations between the two formally allied countries began.
Relations have not changed in any extraordinary way even after the return of American President Donald Trump to power last year. It must be admitted that Slovakia is not mentioned at all in the foreign policy of the White House and is not talked about much in the American media either. So, if we ignore the Epstein case, in which the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Miroslav Lajčák got involved.
Since the current Minister of Defence Robert Kaliňák continues to purchase American weapons, while the scope and intensity of these purchases have reached a qualitatively and quantitatively new level, Slovakia is understandably perceived by utilitarian players in Washington as a good ally. If we add to that the fact that there are no relevant anti-Trump narratives in the country under the Tatras, at first glance there is nothing to write home about in the field of American Slovak relations.
With its utilitarian policy, Slovakia fully fits into the world image of the current American ruling elite. In the past it was different. American foreign policy has always represented a special mixture of utilitarianism and self-interest on the one hand, and ideals and a certain degree of messianism on the other. That is gone today, all that remains is politics based on cynicism and the right of the stronger – without ideals and solidarity. Slovakia has always behaved similarly, which was overlooked in the past due to the size of the country. Now, however, it can deepen relations between the two countries. As the Slovak proverb says, a fisherman always knows another fisherman.
However, this may change in the future. And the turnaround may not be as far as it seems. The international order has fallen apart, and as always in the past, sooner or later a new one will emerge. It cannot be ruled out that we will see it this year. On November 18-19, 2026, the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) will take place in Shenzhen, China. On its outskirts, the presidents of China, the USA and Russia, Xi Jinping, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin could meet at a tripartite meeting. And there may be nothing less on the agenda than the establishment of strategic stability between the nuclear powers, i.e. the potential division of spheres of influence. One day, Shenzhen can be called the new Yalta.
Of course we are ahead. Something similar can happen later and in a softer form than it was in Yalta. We do not know what the future will bring, but the great powers will gradually move towards some kind of grand agreement. The Peace of Westphalia, the Congress of Vienna, the unsuccessful Versailles and subsequently the freezingly stable Yalta will probably be repeated in some way. After all, many will welcome a concert of great powers in a troubled world. The European Union, of which Slovakia has been a member since 2004, will also have something to say about this. Europe must be reckoned with, even if it is in danger of descending from the Olympic heights much lower during the concert of the great powers. Brussels is doing everything to prevent this from happening, but there are topics such as the development of artificial intelligence where Europe is no longer counted on. In short, with the current geopolitical changes, nothing can be taken for granted.
American Slovak relations will thus develop either in a similar way as before, or on the contrary in a radically different way. It depends on where Slovakia will lie geopolitically, in which sphere of influence it will reach and on which side it will have its radars pointed.
The article was created as part of the Foreign Policy of the V4 Countries in a Changing World project. The project is co-financed by the governments of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad grants from the International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to support the ideas of sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.
ROČNÍK XV. – 3. ČÍSLO, ZÁŘÍ 2026