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Croatian Government Honors Michael McAdams
December 15, 1995 On the occasion of the Republic of Croatia's fifth year of independence on May 30, the President of the Republic of Croatia Dr. Franjo Tudjman named as a recipient of the "Order of the Morning Star, Marko Maruli Class" C. Michael McAdams of the University of San Francisco. Mc Adams is the Regional Director of USF's campus in the California State capital of Sacramento.The Order is bestowed for cultural achievement and was awarded to McAdams for twenty-five years as an advocate of Croatian self-determination and for his extensive writings about Croatia. His most recent monograph Hrvatska Mit i Istina (Croatia Myth and Reality Zagreb Croatian University Press, 1993, 1994, 1995) has been published in three languages and other translations are in progress.
Mr. McAdams was declared persona non grata in the former communist Yugoslavia for his views and he was a leader in the fight to have then political prisoner, now President, Franjo Tudjman, declared a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International.
The high honor was also awarded to two other non-Croatians. One was Prof. of Philosophy Kathy Wilkes of Oxford University who remained at her post as President of the Executive Board at the Inter-University Centre in Dubrovnik during the four-month Serbian siege which destroyed the international higher education consortium. Also honored was French professor and intellectual Mr. Alain Finkielkraut, author of a dozen books and editor of the European Herald for his contributions to understanding of the Croatian nation.
The Order's medal will be formally presented by His Excellency Petar Sarcevic, Croatian Ambassador to the United States, at a ceremony in Sunnyvale, California on December 19.
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