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The policy quickly focused on Hungary and Poland, two countries that follow the Kremlin's general line in foreign policy but tolerate considerably more internal freedom than the Soviet Union. In Hungary the government has introduced some profit incentives and free-market forces in the economy, and visitors from neighboring Austria no longer need visas to enter the country. In recognition of these and other reforms, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance traveled to Budapest in January to return the Crown of St. Stephen, a 977-year-old treasure of the Hungarian monarchy that had been in American hands since the end of World War II. The crown is a symbol of Hungarian national pride; its "captivity"in Fort Knox for nearly 30 years had been a constant irritant in U.S.-Hungarian relations, and its return this year was a gesture calculated to hasten the strengthening of those ties. The Carter Administration also has moved to secure for Hungary most-favored-nation status, a lowering of trade barriers that the Senate is expected to approve in the next few weeks.
Brzezinski has taken a personal interest in coordinating new initiatives toward his native Poland. In the past year Washington has extended more than $500 million in grain credits to Poland, and when Carter visited Warsaw last December, he sent his wife Rosalynn and Brzezinski to meet with Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski, the assertive leader of the country's 31 million Roman Catholics. In Washington, Brzezinski has received a steady stream of visiting Polish writers, academics and journalists, most recently Krzysztof Kozlowski, an editor of the outspoken Catholic weekly Tygodnik Powszechny.
The new U.S. policy has been generally well received among those it is meant to encourage. "There's no doubt the Carter Administration has changed American strategy in a very welcome way," says one prominent Polish intellectual. "Before Carter, almost all contacts were government-to-government and always with an eye to Moscow. Now the U.S. is treating us as an important nation in our own right and an increasingly pluralistic one at that. I hope Carter pursues this policy with even more vigor."
The Kremlin is worried he will do just that. During Cyrus Vance's mission to Moscow in April, a Russian listened with annoyance as a visitor from Washington remonstrated with him about Soviet intervention in Africa. Finally the Russian interrupted angrily: "How can you Americans complain so self-righteously about what we are doing outside your sphere of influence when you are making mischief right in our own front yard?"