h.e. Mr. András Simonyi (16 May 1952) was the Hungarian ambassador to the United States between 2002 and 2007. He was succeeded by Ferenc Somogyi.
He represented the interests of The Republic of Hungary, its government, and people to the government and people of the United States. Simonyi was appointed ambassador in 2002 under the administration of Prime Minister Péter Medgyessy. On 25 September 2002 he appeared in the Oval Office before United States President George W. Bush to present his credentials as ambassador. He replaced h.e. Ambassador Géza Jeszenszky, who left office in August, 2002.
He is perhaps better known to some Americans than other European ambassadors because of a number of appearances on The Colbert Report, a satirical political show on American cable television.
András Simonyi is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy. [1]
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Simonyi was born 16 May 1952 in Budapest. As a four-year-old, he witnessed Soviet tanks roll past his home during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. In 1961 Simony's father's profession as a textile engineer brought the family to Copenhagen, Denmark, where they would live for five years. In Denmark Simonyi attended British-run international-school and Danish government school, learning Danish and English. He also began a life-long devotion to the global music scene of such US-based styles as Blues and Rock'nRoll.
Simonyi majored in transport economics at the Karl Marx University of Economics in Budapest. He graduated in 1975, writing his thesis on Denmark's security policy in the 20th century.
After university, Simonyi worked with many youth exchange programs - in the State Committee for Youth, in the bureau of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), a a "frontline" organization speaking out against the imperialist practices of capitalst countries and of NATO, but with a special interest in forging ties between youth organizations of the East and the West, a result of detente, to span from nato to Eastern Bloc countries. This work brought him into contact with the American Council of Young Political Leaders. From 1984 to 1989 he worked for the Socialist Workers Party in Hungary in the foreign relations departments.
Simonyi is an enormous music fan. He loves to play the electric guitar (which he was seen playing on an April 2007 episode of The Colbert Report). As a young man he listened to Radio Free Europe and Radio Luxembourg. In 1970, he started his own band. He has expressed his opinion that Rock'n Roll was a key factor to loosening the tight totalitarian grip behind the iron curtain. His Washington based band the Coalition of the Willing has guitar great Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (formerly Steely Dan and Doobie Bros.)on guitar, Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Poneman on guitar, Ambassador Alexander "Sandy" Vershbow on drums, and Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield on bass.
He is featured along with GoodTime Charlie Lewis on living legend Jerry Miller's (of the legendary original Moby Grape) 2006 Best of Friends CD. He is married and has two children.
On 9 August 2006, the character Stephen Colbert, (played by Stephen Colbert the actor) announced on his political talk-show The Colbert Report (airing on the cable channel Comedy Central in the United States) that the Ministry of Transport of Hungary The Ministry of Transport of Hungary was soliciting suggestions for the name of a new bridge to be built over the Danube River north of Budapest, completing the M0 motorway-loop around the city.
On 14 September 2006 Ambassador Simonyi appeared on the American cable television channel Comedy Central's The Colbert Report to discuss a new bridge under construction in Hungary. The since-named Megyeri Bridge, completed in 2008, spans the River Danube just north of Budapest. Colbert (a U.S. citizen) had hoped the Hungarian government would name the innovative bridge after him, leading to the Ambassador's appearance on the show.
Voting was taking place in an online poll on the Ministry's website. On 8 August 2006 the newswire service Reuters had reported that Chuck Norris was the leading candidate.[2]
He reappeared on the 10 April 2007 episode, in response to comments Colbert claimed to have made on his supposed radio show, Colbert on the Ert, about Hungarians' lack of guitar playing talent, in a parody of Don Imus' recent comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. After referring to the alleged scandal throughout the episode, the ambassador appeared suddenly in the tag playing an electric guitar live. After Simonyi offered Colbert the Hungarian-made eagle-headed guitar, Colbert apologized, they both agreed that the Finnish could not play guitar, and Simonyi played as the show went to credits.
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Géza Jeszenszky |
Hungarian Ambassador to the United States 2002–2007 |
Succeeded by Ferenc Somogyi |