WASHINGTON, DC – For his numerous legislative achievements, his tireless advocacy for victims of communism and his renowned leadership defending democratic principles, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ was recently awarded the prestigious  Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom.

Named for Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan, two US presidents whose effective strategies stopped the spread of communism in their times, the medal is given to honor those who share these presidents’ moral clarity and impact. 

“It rewards their kind of dedication, grit, and vision.  And Representative Chris Smith is such a man,” said Dr. Elizabeth Spalding, Ph.D., Chairman of the Victims of Communism Foundation Board, who presented the medal to Smith.

“Today, we honor his career of achievement,” Spalding said, “based on what [Chris Smith] stands for, what he does, and how he does it.

“Congressman Smith defends the vulnerable. He has been recognized for his outstanding work for veterans and against religious persecution, human trafficking, and violence against women.”

Referencing the human rights and foreign policy heavy weight, Dr. Spalding said Smith “also defends the vulnerable and persecuted abroad.  His tireless efforts against all forms of tyranny, particularly communism, Chris Smith lives up to the legacy of Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan, two great Americans and principled men of action.”

“Even a cursory reading of history reveals that far too often the past is prologue.  Bad history repeats,” Smith said as he accepted the award. “Communism has been—and continues to be—the equivalent of the bubonic plague innocent men, women and children. Communist leaders and their misguided followers murder, rape, torture and enslave countless numbers of people. They leave lifelong physical, psychological and spiritual scars on survivors,” he said.

Despite rising repression in other places such as Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Brazil, Iran, North Korea, Vietnam and Belarus, Smith offered hope and encouragement to those waging battles for human rights: “We are in unprecedented challenging times,” Smith said. “We must never quit nor grow weary in the defense of human rights.  Injustice need not be forever. Many are depending on us.”

Smith thanked Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation for their leadership and “tenacious scholarship” that help the truth of communisms’ horrific legacy of abuse and tyranny—over 100 million dead victims.

“The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation shines a sustained brilliant light, and brings intense scrutiny—and accountability—to the dark, often ignored, trivialized or covered-up diabolical deeds of brutal dictatorships,” he said.

As inspiration, Smith pointed to human rights hero, Chen Guangcheng, who had earlier in the day served as the keynote speaker at the Foundation’s Roll Call of Nations where representatives from embassies, ethnic and human rights organizations honor those who died resisting communist regimes.

A human rights lawyer in China, Chen was imprisoned for years by the Chinese Communist Party Chinese government for fearlessly defending individuals with disabilities and Chinese women in Linyi who were being punished under the CCP’s ruthlessly enforced one-child per couple policy. 

Smith worked to free and bring the blind lawyer to the United States. He called Chen, “a human rights defender in a league of his own” who dramatically escaped from house arrest and made a long and arduous trip to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Smith chaired four congressional hearings on Chen including his famous live testimony by phone from his hospital bed in Beijing on May 3, 2012.

Smith also cited a 1982 trip in his first congressional term to Moscow and Leningrad on behalf of Soviet Jews suffering from physical and mental abuse, systematic harassment, gulags and psychiatric prisons, and an array of seemingly wanton, brutal acts of anti-Semitism. He noted that despite the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia didn’t matriculate into a democracy. 

 “There’s been no peace dividend,” Smith said. “Today, the KGB’s own Vladimir Putin is waging a war of unprovoked aggression against Ukraine—our hopes and prayers must be that a just and sustainable peace brokered by President Trump can be achieved.”

Smith referenced both Romanian Pastor Richard Wurmbrand’s true story of torture and psychological abuse of underground Christians under Romania’s dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and the pastor’s harrowing 14-year incarceration, as well as the heartbreaking case of Bishop Su Zhimin, a leader of the underground Catholic Church in China, who was beaten, starved, and tortured for his faith and spent some 40 years in prison. After his last known arrest, Bishop Su has not been heard from

He additionally noted many in Congress and the Administration continue to advocate for the release of Jimmy Lai—and other Hong Kongers unjustly imprisoned, as well as for Uyghur Muslims, who are unjustly targeted by the Chinese government for their beliefs.

Smith said he was deeply humbled at the award ceremony noting that previous medal awardees include Elena Bonner, H.E. Landsbergis, Wei Jingsheng, and Armando Valladares, just to name a few international human rights leaders.

###