Word: aloians
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Next the letter fell into the hands of a few unidentified go-betweens. Over the next four months, according to Aloian, two Western journalists with frequent access to Poland would carry messages between Harvard and Walesa, and at least one of them had a hand in getting Bok's letter to its destination. Another person actually handed the letter to Walesa. Aloian refuses to identify this last carrier, although he said in April, "It wasn't the Harvard Club of Gdansk...
...point did Harvard notify the State Department, the Polish embassy to the United States, or any other official agency, according to Aloian. "We informed [the State Department] of the acceptance--until then, they were not aware of the invitation," he said after the news was publicized. "This is essentially a private invitation on the part of a university to a private individual...
Walesa responded to Harvard's offer in a letter dated March 5. Once again, Bok and Aloian called on Baranczak to serve as interpreter, and he told them that Walesa wanted to give the speech. The letter also stressed Walesa's uncertainty that he would actually be allowed to come to Cambridge, Baranczak recalled later, but overall, he said "it was very positive in terms of accepting the invitation and expressing his wish to come...
...Aloian contacted one of the journalist intermediaries and asked him to float by Walesa the possibility of an early announcement. "He told us it would help the chances of his coming over if we released the news early." So in the first week of April. Harvard's news office issued a press release about Walesa's acceptance--"largely to accommodate his request," Aloian says...
They also noted confidently that Walesa suggested in his letter that he might send a speech to read in his absence, in case he could not appear in person (As of last week, no such speech had arrived, although Aloian says he has been expecting one since the first week of May--based on word from Walesa via intermediaries...