The United States government has in fact repeatedly recognized the Armenian Genocide.  However, notwithstanding these statements of recognition which include a president’s (Reagan) recognition and several resolutions of the House of Representatives, the overall or standing policy of the United States continues to be an avoidance of recognition.

An explicit statement of this avoidance is to be found in the dismissal of the then U.S. ambassador to Armenia, John Evans in (year) when Ambassador Evans dared to refer to the “Armenian Genocide” in a talk at California State University in Fresno in April 2006.

In one presidential political campaign after another, the candidates have pledged that if they are elected they would give full recognition to the genocide, but time after time – with the exception of President Reagan – once elected they have failed to do so.

The historic recognitions of the Armenian Genocide by the U.S. government to date are as follows:

• May 28, 1951 – Written statement to the International Court of Justice regarding the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
• April 8, 1975 – House Joint Resolution 148
• April 22, 1981 – President Ronald Reagan Proclamation No. 4838
• September 10, 1984 – House Joint Resolution 247