by Suren Sargsyan
April 24, 2025, marked the 110th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The recognition of the Armenian Genocide has always been one of the top issues in US-Armenian relations as well as for Armenian diaspora in the USA. In his 2025 statement, President Donald Trump reverted to a neutral stance, omitting the term “Armenian Genocide” used by his predecessor, Joe Biden, suggesting the issue is again a political bargaining chip with Turkey. Moreover, the European Union mission in Armenia removed from its original tweet the term genocide shortly after it was posted. Below is a short history of US policy in this regard.
Back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, one could observe a dangerous pattern in US policy towards the dire plight of the Armenian people. The twenty-eighth president of the United States Woodrow Wilson’s two terms of presidency (1913-1921) spanned the years of the Armenian Genocide. The US took a general stance of neutrality during the early years of World War I, which in turn led to a policy of neutrality and non-intervention in the Armenian Genocide taking place in the Ottoman Empire – despite significant concerns and advocacy efforts on the Armenian issue. Even though the USA was receiving credible flow of information about the massacres and mass deportation of Armenians in the Ottoman Turkey, it chose to stay silent and avoid action first because the USA had a strategic goal of staying neutral during the World War I and second of all, the United States was reluctant to take a confrontational position towards the Ottoman Turkey, which was a regional superpower and good relations with it was of substantial geopolitical advantage for the United States. The easily accessible oil in the Near East and US-Turkish prospering trade relations played their crucial role. So, maintaining these relations was Washington’s primary goal back then.
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US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau during the Armenian Genocide played a pivotal role in reporting to the US government about the atrocities towards Armenians happening in the Ottoman Empire. In a confidential telegram to the Secretary of State, Ambassador Morgenthau wrote: “Deportation of and excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing and from harrowing reports of eye witnesses it appears that a campaign of race extermination is in progress under a pretext of reprisal against rebellion. Protests as well as threats are unavailing and probably incite the Ottoman government to more drastic measures as they are determined to disclaim responsibility for their absolute disregard of Capitulations and I believe nothing short of actual force which obviously the United States are not in a position to exert would adequately meet the situation. Suggest you inform belligerent nations and mission boards of this.” Later Ambassador Morgenthau wrote a memoir titled “Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story (1918),” where he described in detail all the atrocities towards Armenians he witnessed and documented. His book, based on his diaries and State Department records, later shaped the US understanding of what happened to Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.
Before the collapse of the Soviet Union and Armenia’s independence, two US presidents referred to the issue of the Armenian Genocide. However, only one of them called it a “genocide.”
On May 16, 1978, former President Jimmy Carter during a reception honoring Armenian Americans at the White House mentioned that “… it’s generally not known in the world that in the years preceding 1916, there was a concerted effort made to eliminate all the Armenian people, probably one of the greatest tragedies that ever befell any group. And there weren’t any Nuremberg trials.” Later his successor Ronald Reagan in his Proclamation of April 22, 1981 commemorating the “Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust” mentioned the word “genocide” explicitly referring to the Armenian Genocide for the first time in the US history. It reads: “Like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it – and like too many other such persecutions of too many other peoples – the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.”
Most notably, these are lines written by Ken Khachigian, a chief speech writer, senior political advisor, and special consultant to President Reagan. According to Khachigian this speech was cleared with two senior members of the National Security Agency before being presented to Reagan to avoid international political repercussions harmful to the United States. However, later on Ronald Reagan never referred back to this characterization, which faced a backlash from Turkey. In his written responses to questions submitted by the newspaper Hurriyet of Turkey to the question “Congress is about to vote on an Armenian resolution – referring to the so-called genocide in 1915. Do you approve congressional action on such a sensitive issue?” President Reagan responded that “On those grounds alone, my administration opposes congressional action on the kind of resolution to which you refer.” From that time on the US administration officials avoided calling a spade a spade till 2021 when the word “genocide” was finally uttered by the US president.
The recognition of Armenian Genocide was an important issue for years especially for the Armenian community in the US. The ultimate goal was to achieve recognition by the US president and by both Houses of the US Congress. The path towards recognition was particularly complex since the collapse of the USSR and the formation of independent Armenia. Unfortunately, through the years many candidates who later became presidents, as well as other officials, promised the Armenian-American community to recognize the Armenian Genocide but failed to keep their promise once in office.
It is worthwhile to have a short outlook at US presidents’ policies on this issue starting from George H. W. Bush. Back in 1988, when Bush was running for president and was the Vice President under Ronald Reagan issued the following statement: “The United States must acknowledge the attempted genocide of the Armenian people in the last years of the Ottoman Empire, based on the testimony of survivors, scholars, and indeed our own representatives at the time, if we are to ensure that such horrors are not repeated.” However, after becoming the US president not only did Bush fail to keep his promise but also tried to prevent the adoption of Armenian Genocide resolution by the Congress. Bush himself referred to the Armenian Genocide as “massacres.”
The 42nd US president Bill Clinton acted similarly in this regard. Clinton failed to keep the promise of calling Armenian murders “genocide” instead referring to them as “deportations and massacres.” Moreover, Clinton interfered with Congress to cancel the voting on Armenian Genocide resolution which would have been a winning vote. In his letter to the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, Clinton stated that the bill “could have far-reaching, negative consequences for the United States.” The US leadership was worried about the potential consequences of such a resolution on the US-Turkish relations.
President George H. Bush also had pledged to the Armenian community to recognize the Armenian Genocide in a letter: “The Armenians were subjected to a genocidal campaign that defies comprehension and commands all decent people to remember and acknowledge the facts and lessons of an awful crime in a century of bloody crimes against humanity. If elected President, I would ensure that our nation properly recognizes the tragic suffering of the Armenian people.” And once again, the promise never materialized and later President Bush urged members of Congress to refrain from adopting the Armenian Genocide resolution since it would do “great harm” to US relations with Turkey. In his opinion the resolution was “not the right response to these historic mass killings.”
The commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide coincided with President Obama’s Presidency. Back in 2008 Obama had stated that: “As a Senator, I strongly support passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution (H.Res.106 and S.Res.106), and as President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide…America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides.” However, upon taking office Obama like his predecessors failed to keep it. In his statement on centennial of the Armenian Genocide Obama avoided the term Genocide using instead terms like “mass atrocity” and “terrible carnage.” Obama’s administration official spokesman at the time said that the approach that US administrations have taken is the right “both for acknowledging the past, and for our ability to work with regional partners to save lives in the present.” On the other hand, during Obama’s presidency, the so-called “football diplomacy” effort was launched which aimed to normalize Armenian-Turkish relations. This was used as an excuse by the administration to avoid using the term “genocide” arguing that it would harm the process.
Interestingly, years later, some officials of Obama’s administration, including Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations and USAID director under Joe Biden, said that the administration should have recognized the Genocide and that they were sorry to have disappointed so many Armenian-Americans.
The president who recognized the Armenian Genocide and used the proper term was Joe Biden. Joe Biden had long supported issues of special concern to Armenian-Americans and Armenia. During his presidential campaign in the letter to the Armenian National Committee of America he wrote: “The United States must reaffirm, once and for all, our record on the Armenian Genocide… Failing to remember or acknowledge the fact of genocide only paves the way for future mass atrocities.” On April 24, 2020 Biden made a formal promise to recognize the Armenian Genocide: “If elected, I pledge to support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority for my administration.” As president, Joe Biden kept his promise. On April 23, 2021 Biden had a phone call with Erdogan noting that he was going to recognize the Genocide. On April 24, Biden became the first US president to recognize the Armenian Genocide: “Today, we pause to remember the lives lost during the Meds Yeghern — the Armenian Genocide—and renew our pledge to never forget.”
As for the current president of the United States, it is important to refer back to his first presidency (2017-2021). Back in his first term as a president Donald Trump, like his predecessors, adopted an avoidant policy towards the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Even though it was during his tenure that both Houses of Congress passed similar resolutions recognizing the Armenian Genocide – first the US House of Representatives on October 29, 2019 and later the US Senate on December 12, 2019 – President Donald Trump distanced himself from these resolutions. The US State Department later clarified the Trump administration’s stance, stating: “The position of the Administration has not changed…Our views are reflected in the President’s definitive statement on this issue from last April.” In his annual statements Trump has avoided using the word genocide. Instead he has spoken of “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.”